Young people leaving care deserve to be protected by law from discrimination by landlords.
It is estimated that one in three care leavers become homeless in the first two years immediately after they leave care (All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ending Homelessness, 2017. Over one in ten (13%) of young people leaving care said they had been unable to access accommodation because the landlord was unwilling to accommodate them (Centrepoint, 2017). Often this is because they don’t have a parent who can lend them a deposit or act as a guarantor.
There is an opportunity to address this situation in the Renters (Reform) Bill which is currently going through parliament. The Bill aims to improve the system for renters and landlords in England (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, 2023). It already includes provisions which seek to make sure landlords do not discriminate against benefit claimants and those with children. But currently there’s no recognition of the needs of care leavers. We are proposing an amendment to the Bill to address that.
This important change would make a real difference to thousands of care-experienced young people who are struggling to find suitable accommodation and would help reduce the chance of them ending up homeless or living in unsafe places.
Read more about the proposed amendment in our briefing.