Housing: Rent and Covid-19 Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities
Lord Bird
Main Page: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Bird's debates with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities
(3 years, 6 months ago)
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Lord Greenhalgh (Con)
My Lords, there is no obvious indication of discrimination against people who require housing support, housing benefit or universal credit. As noble Lords know, the increase in the housing benefit bill is substantial, but I will write to the noble Baroness on the matter.
Lord Bird (CB) [V]
We should congratulate Shelter on outlining that 60% of people in the rented sector are only one paycheque away from falling into arrears. That is the kind of information we need to work on. I suggest that the Minister speak to the Government. If we are to have a Cockaigne, as suggested by Boris Johnson at the party conference recently, we need to support people who will fall into evictions because of Covid-19. The only way to do that is for the Government to pay now, rather than later, when these people slip into homelessness.
Lord Greenhalgh (Con)
My Lords, I just point out that as a Minister, I am part of the Government and I will always try to respond as such. We do not see an eviction epidemic. We are fully behind the noble Lord’s mission to end homelessness, as he knows, and we will invest in that endeavour.