Sadly, the Renters Reform Bill is still not in place we are continuing to see people’s lives disrupted by section 21 evictions. A section 21 or more commonly “no-faults” eviction gives someone as little as 2 months to vacate their home.

These evictions are obviously very disruptive to the people who are served them, but they are also disruptive to our work. Paul* has been working with Barnabus for many years after some time spent homeless he was found a property through our resettlement scheme. Due to brain injuries from a very serious head injury Paul has struggled with change and managing stress, so we have been supporting him as he learned more and more life skills and was getting ready for his move to independent living.

Paul had been in his flat with his cat for 5 years when he was served his section 21 eviction, his landlord planned to renovate the property and charge more in rent. It was a huge hit for Paul, a life he felt secure in was being torn from him, as someone with autism the idea of being in a new home in a new neighbourhood with new people was very distressing for him. This was on top of the time pressure to find a new home that would accept him and his cat and his landlord beginning the renovation work whilst Paul was still living in the flat. He was struggling to cope with the stress, he wasn’t eating properly and was starting to lose hope.

Fortunately, we found a really nice flat for Paul and we helped him moved before he was evicted from his previous house. Paul and his cat have coped really well with the move and the have both settled in and are enjoying the nicer place.

We are really glad to see how well Paul has coped with the move, it shows how much he has grown. We feel very fortunate that we were able to act to help prevent him from becoming homeless again, but not everyone is so lucky and we see many people coming to us for support after finding themselves homeless after a section 21 evictions.

*Name has been changed to protect our friend’s identity

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