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This petition was submitted during the 2017-2019 parliament

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Petition Help end the scarcity of landlords who will accept the housing element of UC.

Removing a tenant's choice to have housing benefit paid directly to a landlord has meant that few landlords are prepared to house claimants. I fear this will continue (within UC) to contribute to homelessness for many and cause a number of deaths via exposure this winter.

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I completely understand the ethos behind encouraging those receiving benefits to take increasing levels of financial responsibility and to work towards independent living. However, the increased uncertainty for landlords caused by the freeze on LHA rates, and the strong preference towards the allowance being paid to the claimant, disadvantages vulnerable adults and leaves many trapped in addiction and homelessness. https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN07008

This petition is closed This petition ran for 6 months

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MPs want to hear your views on benefits and renting

A group of MPs who form the Work and Pensions Committee are looking at difficulties faced by benefit claimants in finding suitable housing in the private rented sector. The Committee is looking into ‘no DSS’ policies which restrict landlords from renting to people who are claiming benefits.

To help them with their inquiry, the MPs on the Committee would like to hear from people who have experienced problems finding private rental properties because they are or were in receipt of benefits.

You can tell the Committee about your experience by completing a short survey here: https://twitter.com/CommonsWorkPen/status/1102956785940525056

The survey is expected to be open for responses until 20 March. This may be moved back if the Committee wishes to receive more responses.

We know that what you say might contain sensitive personal information, so the Committee may not publish what you say in full. Instead, the Committee will summarise the experiences of all those they hear from, which will include the key themes and use anonymised quotes as examples of what the Committee has heard. These will be used in the final output of the inquiry (which could be a report for example) which will be later be decided by the Committee.

You can find more information on the ‘no DSS’: discrimination against benefit claimants in the housing sector inquiry here:

https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/work-and-pensions-committee/inquiries/parliament-2017/inquiry18/