News / Housing
Private rented property evictions biggest cause of homelessness in Bristol
Eviction from private rented property has become the biggest cause of homelessness in Bristol for the first time in four years.
A total of 234 households were told to leave properties by their landlord between October and December – more than double during the same period in 2019.
That was the last previous time the end of private tenancies exceeded the number of people unwilling or unable to continue to let family and friends live with them as the top reason for homelessness, a city council meeting was told.
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There are now more than 1,500 families and single people in temporary accommodation in Bristol, while more than 6,000 without a roof over their head ask the local authority for help every year – a 25 per cent rise since the pandemic.
Bristol City Council cabinet members approved a number of measures to tackle the spiralling problem but admitted it was nothing more than a “sticking plaster” as they urged the Government to take urgent action amid a “horrendous” national homelessness crisis.
They agreed to spend £980,000 to lease and convert ten city centre student flats with 34 bedrooms into temporary accommodation for those who are currently housed in the most expensive places, such as hotels, B&Bs and with private landlords, which will save the authority £237,000 a year.
Council leaders also extended an existing lease from University Hospitals Bristol & Weston NHS Trust for a similar scheme of 24 flats in Eugene Street, which they originally approved in November 2022 and have since spent £800,000 on refurbishments. That will claw back £328,000 a year on high-cost temporary housing placements.
Cabinet member for housing delivery and homelessness Tom Renhard said the end of private rented tenancies were often what are called Section 21 (S21) no-fault evictions where landlords give tenants just two months’ notice to leave without any reason.
234 households were told to leave properties by their landlord between October and December last year – more than double during the same period in 2019 – photo: Bristol City Council
He told the meeting on Tuesday, April 9: “We’ve seen homelessness rates rise since the pandemic.
“An average of 510 households a month are now approaching Bristol City Council because of homelessness-related issues, which is really stark when you think about it – it’s over 6,000 a year.”
He said the authority had been given almost £1 million from the Government as top-up money to tackle homelessness but that this would not go very far, adding that the huge amounts charged by some providers of emergency temporary accommodation had become “a bit of a racket”.
Renhard said: “We obviously welcome any funding that’s given by central government but these are the symptoms – I would rather the issues were dealt with so we can use funding far more effectively.”
He said the Renters Reform Bill, which proposes an end to S21 evictions, needed to pass through Parliament but that it was first promised by then-prime minister Theresa May five years ago and had been significantly delayed.
Last month the Government paused the legislation indefinitely pending a review to determine if the courts could cope with an expected rise in cases brought by landlords taking legal action to regain legitimate possession of their properties.
Renhard said: “The only way we are really going to get on top of [homelessness] is through Renters Reform and getting on the cost of accommodation, so while this funding is welcomed, this is a sticking plaster and no more.”
Deputy mayor Craig Cheney said: “Temporary accommodation and homelessness are driving costs of every council in the country at a staggering, really terrifying rate.
“It’s a symptom of letting the market decide when it comes to housing, and the market has decided it doesn’t really care about social outcomes, it only cares about profit, and that has inevitably driven this horrendous situation that we find ourselves in.
“It’s particularly bad in Bristol because house prices are so high here and that creates more subsidy loss for the council, but it’s driving homelessness in the first place through no-fault evictions.”
Subsidy loss is the amount the council loses in having to pay for temporary accommodation to meet its legal duties of housing homeless people.
It reclaims some of the bill from the Government through housing benefit but this was capped in 2011, which means the local authority faces a £17 million subsidy loss in this financial year.
Alex Seabrook is a local democracy reporter for Bristol.
Main photo: Mia Vines Booth
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