Disabled renters hoped Labour would bring change. Are they actually any different to the Tories?

It’s rare that life gives you second chances and as many will tell you in politics, you’re even less likely to get a chance to redo legislation, but that is exactly where the Labour government has found itself.

Parents tell their children that the most important thing about a second chance is not to waste it, which would be very sound advice to our current Labour government. They have just put forward their own Renters’ Rights Bill, which will end section 21 no-fault evictions, something the Conservatives promised to do almost annually over the last five years before their Renters Reform Bill was scuppered by a group of backbench landlord MPs.

Yet in terms of rhetoric, the secretary of state for housing Matthew Pennycook, sounded awfully familiar. He told the BBC that his new bill would end “injustice” for renters living in “substandard” properties but would also work for “good landlords”.

• Cuts to disability benefits in autumn budget would plunge disabled people into deep poverty
• Paris Paralympics is a stark reminder of the barriers most disabled people face in sport

It is not a particularly confidence-inspiring statement for the country’s millions of disabled renters hoping for change, given how similar they are to the words of the outgoing housing Minister Michael Gove. In 2019, Gove told parliament that “making sure that both landlords and tenants have a new deal and a fair deal is critical”. This was right before he was forced into an embarrassing U-Turn by landlord MPs.

It seems under this new government, as much as things appear to change, they stay the same.

We know how urgently we need change. At the start of this year, I reported on the traumatic effects of no-fault evictions, where Landlords violently remove renters from their homes. I spoke to Tina, who was one of the 87,000 disabled renters put at risk of entering the temporary accommodation system following a no-fault eviction.

In 2023, the number of no-fault evictions by bailiffs in England surged by almost 50%. That means across the country, thousands of disabled renters are in danger, scared and trying to find a home. This battle proves even more daunting when we consider the sheer lack of accessible, affordable homes in this country with only 7% of homes in England offering even minimal accessibility features.

Despite past promises to abolish section 21 evictions in 2019, the previous government failed to follow through, capitulating over and over again to the landlord lobby. So, renters have been looking to the new Labour government to see if they will live up to their promise to fix Britain’s broken system. Have they actually done anything different to the Conservatives? 

Well, according to the London Renters Union (LRU), this new bill yet again offers little protection from skyrocketing rents. In fact, the new rules will mean that “landlords will only be allowed to raise the rent once a year, and to the market rate”.  This is eerily similar to the Conservatives’ previous plan to send those seeking to appeal unjust rent increases through the tribunal system. How will this help disabled renters in areas like Brent where the cost of rent rose by a staggering 27% in a single year between 2023 and 2024.

Jae Vail, a spokesperson for the London Renters Union, told me: “Banning no-fault evictions is long-overdue, but it means little if landlords can still drive people out with sky-high rent hikes. Rising housing costs have driven millions into poverty and hundreds of thousands into homelessness, with disabled renters among those hit the hardest.”

The dangers we face as disabled renters are even more complex than just spiralling rents. The issues that plague our unequal housing system have bled into every part of the country. An overwhelming 91% of homes do not provide even the lowest level of accessibility, leaving less than one in 10 homes suitable for us to live in. The EHRC estimates that one in three privately rented homes have unmet housing needs.

Does Labour’s bill offer new routes to tackle these issues at the heart of the private system? Inclusion London‘s policy and campaigns officer Mariella Hill is uncertain: “We feel this bill is lacking in some key areas that disproportionately impact disabled people. Notably, [sic] only 6% of disabled facilities grants, grants given from local authorities to fund adaptations, are given to private tenants. We do not believe the bill, in its current form, does enough to address this.”

The department’s lack of focus on the serious issues disabled people face might be symptomatic of a larger-scale issue across the housing system. As Dr Abi O’Connor, a researcher at the New Economics Foundation, explained: “It’s hardly unsurprising as disabled people have always been an afterthought in any housing-related reform when they should be one of the first groups to consider.” 

Disabled people across the country deserve safe, affordable homes. Despite what we are led to believe, this is a very achievable goal. As Abi and Mariella both pointed out, there are many solutions already out there this government could implement if they wanted to. They could “urgently prioritise reforming underfunded and uncoordinated systems like the disabled facilities grant”, Abi told me, and Mariella explained that the “private rented sector database could be an opportunity to collect some key accessibility information about private rented homes”. These small steps could form part of a much-improved second attempt at rental reform.

So now the onus shifts back to campaigners to push Labour to be bold with their new legislation and have the courage to forge a new path for the housing system rather than falling into the same routines of the previous government. 

Mikey Erhardt is a campaigner at Disability Rights UK.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. Big Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy of the magazine or get the app from the App Store or Google Play.