Activist group Generation Rent has accused landlords of “silencing” private tenants who live in flats hit with damp and mould.

The claim comes in a statement which is actually about the rising homelessness figures produced by the government.

The government’s new snapshot figures on a given night in autumn 2022 show that 3,069 people were estimated to be sleeping rough, a 26 per cent annual increase in the number of people sleeping rough in England.

The number of people sleeping rough in England is 74% higher than in 2010 when the data started being collected and this comes despite the introduction of the Everyone In scheme during the pandemic. 

The government has also released new statutory homelessness figures, which show the number of households who approached their local council between July and September 2022 and were found to be homeless or at risk of homelessness within the next eight weeks. 

Some 72,320 households in England became homeless or were at imminent risk of becoming homeless– a four per cent annual rise on the same period last year.  In the same period, 25,570 families with children faced homelessness – an eight per cent annual rise on the same period last year. 

Generation Rent’s response focuses entirely on the Section 21 issue.

The group’s outgoing director – Baroness Alicia Kennedy – says: “The ability of landlords to evict tenants without needing a reason ruins lives by silencing tenants living in mouldy homes and, as these figures show, causing thousands of cases of homelessness every month. 

“Nearly four years ago the government committed to ending these unfair Section 21 evictions but we’re still waiting for the Renters Reform Bill. 

“That’s too late for the nearly 60,000 households who have faced homelessness as a result of this law since April 2019. Life in the private rented sector will not improve until Section 21 is abolished and tenants have security of tenure.”