Shelter – Private renters are twice as likely to feel depressed

14:56 PM, 17th March 2021, About 4 years ago 20

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Research by Shelter indicates 14% of adults in England are more worried about becoming homeless due to the pandemic.

Eleanor Wilson, a Shelter helpline adviser recruited in response to the pandemic, said:“People are frightened, they’re scared they might do the wrong thing, they don’t know their rights, and they’re really worried they will lose their home. People can be quite distressed and don’t know where to turn. It can be emotional because you feel responsible for every caller.”

“Unsurprisingly”, Shelter’s latest poll carried out by YouGov, shows it is private renters who have fared the worst during the Coronavirus crisis with 27% of private renting adults now in fear of becoming homeless (2.2 million people).

Private renters are also almost twice as likely to feel depressed and anxious about their housing situation, compared with the general public (26%). In fact, nearly half (47%) of private renters say they are more depressed and anxious in light of the pandemic.

These concerns are not unfounded when a quarter of private renters (2 million people) have seen their income decrease in the last six months, and many are struggling to pay their rent. In just the last month:

24% of private renters have had to borrow money to pay their rent
18% have cut back on food or skipped meals to pay their rent
12% have cut back on heating their home to pay their rent

This worrying snapshot of the people struggling to get by during the pandemic chimes with the charity’s frontline services data, which shows two-thirds (63%) of calls answered by its emergency helpline in the last year were from people already homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Polly Neate, said: “Through our helpline we have seen just how scared people are about their homes and their futures. People’s lives are literally on the line. They are desperately struggling, and the threat of homelessness is very real.

“At Shelter we are working hard to keep people safe in their homes. Thanks to the generous support of the public and our partners we have been able to answer double the number of calls, but we need to keep this up if we are going to weather the coming storm. To make sure we can always be on the other end of the line, we’re asking the public to support our appeal.”

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Comments

DALE ROBERTS

10:47 AM, 18th March 2021, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Dr Rosalind Beck at 18/03/2021 - 09:29
AND enforcing the emotive blackmailing they have become supreme masters at in order to fill their overflowing coffers. Manipulative and disingenuous.
Apart from paying themselves obscene salaries I have no idea what they actually spend their money on.

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Trapped Landlord

10:48 AM, 18th March 2021, About 4 years ago

Being a trapped landlord makes me depressed, I have had all of my rights stolen from me over recent years by a so called tory government and I am deeply offended and insecure. Can everyone please feel sorry for me.

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Trapped Landlord

10:52 AM, 18th March 2021, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Lee Bailey at 17/03/2021 - 19:00
Not to mention us constantly being referred to as some sort of ' sex for rent ' perverted deviants.

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Martin Thomas

15:04 PM, 18th March 2021, About 4 years ago

It is outrageous that Shelter uses the basis of a small sample to suggest that a particular % of renters feel anxious about becoming homeless. If they said "14% of a small sample were worried" that would at least give it some context. You can't simply extrapolate from a small sample without making that fact crystal clear.
The other thing is, how have tenants in the social sector fared and what do they feel? One assumes they have suffered the same stresses and their incomes will have been affected in the same way. But of course, Shelter wants to focus on the oppressed private tenants.

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Jack Craven

15:20 PM, 18th March 2021, About 4 years ago

(63%) of calls answered by its emergency helpline in the last year were from people already homeless or at risk of homelessness.
It's not really surprising that the majority of callers are seeking help, isn't that what Shelter is there for ? and how many of these callers have brought the problem on themselves and nothing to do with the pandemic. Presumably the other 37% rang to say how well they were treat by their landlord. lol

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LaLo

16:29 PM, 18th March 2021, About 4 years ago

Not quite as depressing as sleeping in a 'shop doorway/park bench' though !

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LaLo

16:41 PM, 18th March 2021, About 4 years ago

I'm wondering - with all the latest rules and regulations re' evictions is it now possible that a L.L. can be thrown out of 'house and home' due to bad debts whilst their tenants are still .............?

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steve p

12:58 PM, 19th March 2021, About 4 years ago

This should be no surprise.

With the attacks on landlords by the government and Shelter it is less viable with lots of landlords selling up. Existing tenants are having to find new properties often at much higher rent because of the demand with dwindling supply.. That must be pretty depressing.

If the government and Shelter had not made Landlords public enemy number one then more people might have been tempted to become a landlord and less would leave, this would mean less people losing their home. You cant vilify landlords in one breath and then when landlords quit which seems to be your aim in the next breath victimise tenants worrying about losing their home due to said landlords quiting.

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Chris @ Possession Friend

10:55 AM, 20th March 2021, About 4 years ago

Not as depressed as Landlords !

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Hardworking Landlord

17:10 PM, 20th March 2021, About 4 years ago

I am sure some of this is true, but banning evictions and allowing the debt to build is not helping anyone. The government need to support tenants and stop increasing the risk to decent landlords that treat their tenants well.

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