{"id":15991,"date":"2018-08-23T10:32:33","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T09:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=15991"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:17","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:17","slug":"housing-benefit-letting-agents-discrimination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=15991","title":{"rendered":"‘Flagrant’ discrimination"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the 1950s and 60s, many people were unable to find housing through private landlords because they were black or Irish. While those days may be long gone, another form of housing discrimination is quietly being perpetrated at letting agents across the country.<\/p>\n

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An undercover investigation by housing charity Shelter found a shocking 1 in 10 letting agent offices had a branch policy of refusing prospective tenants who were on housing benefit, regardless of whether or not they could afford the rent.<\/p>\n

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The worst offender was Haart \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a third of its branches, 8 out of 25, had an explicit \u00e2\u20ac\u0098no DSS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 policy which meant they would not consider those on housing benefit. \u00e2\u20ac\u0098DSS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 stands for the now-defunct Department of Social Security which previously administered benefits.<\/p>\n

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Shelter found that nearly half of the letting agents offices they called said they either had no suitable housing or could not find a landlord that would rent to someone on housing benefit.<\/p>\n

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Discrimination<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

While a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098no DSS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 policy is not yet actually illegal, Shelter believes it could violate the Equality Act 2010 since the majority of people on housing benefit are women \u00e2\u20ac\u201c especially single mothers with childcare responsibilities \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and so could be indirectly discriminated against. People who are receiving disability benefits are also three times more likely to receive housing benefit as well. Shelter believes they, too, could be indirectly discriminated against.<\/p>\n

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The housing charity highlighted the case of Lauren, a 47-year-old single mother who works three jobs. She lived in the same home in Lewes, East Sussex for over a decade but needed to move after rent increases became unaffordable.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI looked for a private rented place which might be more affordable but everywhere says no DSS,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe letting agents I called were all so dismissive and rude, there was no leeway. The experience was horrible and very uncomfortable and unsettling. There is huge discrimination, everyone is tarred with the same brush, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unfair.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Shelter says it is planning a court challenge to \u00e2\u20ac\u0098No DSS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 policies and has warned letting agents of the possibility that they could be breaking the law.<\/p>\n

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In February, a woman successfully argued in county court that she had been subject to sex discrimination after a letting agent refused to consider her application because she was on housing benefit.<\/p>\n

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Single mother Rosie Keogh had lived in the same home for 11 years and always paid on time. She began looking for a new home in Birmingham. When she was denied on the basis of being on housing benefit in 2016, she sent the agent a letter of complaint which was then ignored.<\/p>\n

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The lettings agent Nicholas George eventually admitted sex discrimination and settled out of court, granting Keogh \u00c2\u01412,000 in compensation.<\/p>\n

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While the Keogh case isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a legally binding precedent, it demonstrated that there are legal grounds for challenging agents who turn away potential tenants because they claim housing benefit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Keogh told the BBC<\/a> she felt compelled to take on the agent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“I felt something had to be done to challenge it,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI was motivated by anger at such inequitable practice.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“It made me feel like a second-class citizen.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Shelter chief executive Polly Neate called \u00e2\u20ac\u0098No DSS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 policies an \u00e2\u20ac\u015boutdated and outrageous example of blatant prejudice.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPrivate renting is now so expensive that many people simply can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get by without some housing benefit, even if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re working,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she noted. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAt Shelter we hear from families – who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve always paid their rent – being pushed to breaking point after having the door repeatedly slammed shut on them just because they need housing benefit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bRejecting all housing benefit tenants is morally bankrupt, and because these practices overwhelmingly impact women and disabled people, they could be unlawful. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re urging all landlords and letting agents to get rid of housing benefit bans, and treat people\u00e2\u20ac\u017bfairly\u00e2\u20ac\u017bon a case by case basis.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner agreed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is outrageous that people on housing benefit are being discriminated against by letting agents and private landlords in such a flagrant way,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe lack of social housing stock means more and more people on housing benefit have no other option but to rent privately \u00e2\u20ac\u201c their wholesale banishment from many letting agent branches means they are running out of places to go.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bRents have increased so drastically over the last decade that the numbers of those on housing benefit will only increase even further from the 1.6m people claiming the benefit currently \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this is a problem that must be dealt with now. Unite fully supports Shelter challenging \u00e2\u20ac\u0098no DSS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 policies in court.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the 1950s and 60s, many people were unable to find housing through private landlords because they were black or Irish. While those days may be long gone, another form of housing discrimination is quietly being perpetrated at letting agents across the country.   An undercover investigation by housing charity Shelter found a shocking 1 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[353,379,131,583],"wps_subtitle":"People on housing benefit turned away by private letting agents","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15991"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15991"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25946,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15991\/revisions\/25946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}