The Government recently announced an amnesty on evictions for the next 90 days to protect people during the coronavirus crisis. However, Crisis has been trying to get them to take into account ongoing evictions. Yesterday the Government announced that all possession actions already underway will also be suspended.

Jon Sparkes, Crisis’ Chief Executive, said: “We welcome this reassurance from the government that all ongoing eviction cases will be suspended for 90 days. This will provide essential protection for ​many people who would otherwise potentially be evicted. 

“We now need to make sure people know they are protected, and do not feel pressurised to leave their homes, with potentially disastrous public health consequences during this dangerous time.

“There is still a huge risk of thousands of people being forced into homelessness after this emergency period if we do not act now and protect everyone who loses their income as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

“Housing benefit needs to be increased to cover the cost of average rents, and more money needs to be put into Discretionary Housing Payments so that local authorities can provide emergency support to renters at risk of arrears.”