The Renters Rights Bill is progressing through Parliament, having had its second reading in the House of Lords and is due to go to Committee Stage later in March.
The Bill as it stands does not reflect ROTA’s concerns that race discrimination in housing has been fully addressed.
We have made representations to relevant Parliamentarians who are debating the Bill and we are engaged in further correspondence with them. We urge that our views on how the Bill can be improved are taken into account. People from Black and Global Majority and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities experience disproportionately higher levels of homelessness, housing insecurity and inadequate accommodation than White people. Racism within the housing system is a contributory factor.
ROTA is working consistently to strengthen the Bill so that it addresses this issue directly and does not sidestep the concerns we have raised by referring merely to anti-discrimination provisions within current legislation, such as the Equality Act 2010.
This is not enough. We are putting out a request. Please write to your MP drawing attention to the deficiencies of the Bill and ask that race discrimination is given as high a priority as other measures to protect the rights of people to safe, secure and adequate housing.
We have drafted a template letter which you can use, to write to your MP.
Time is running out. The link to the Renters Rights Bill can be found here: