The evictions ban to provide protection to people at risk of losing their home, during the covid pandemic, should be extended, the First Minister has been told.
The legal ban no longer applies in areas under level two restrictions and below but some MSPs and campaigners want it to continue in all areas while there is still economic uncertainty as a result of lockdown measures.
Pauline McNeill, Glasgow Labour MSP, and the party’s justice spokesperson, said: “There needs to be an extension of the eviction ban until we see the impact of the job retention scheme ending.
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“At same time there must be financial support for renters in arrears due to the pandemic. If we do this we might get people over the worst of this and keep more people in their homes and able to pay their rent in the future.”
Lorna Slater, Greens co leader asked Nicola Sturgeon to put it back in place across Scotland for as long as covid restrictions remain in place.
She said: “Many people have spent much of the past year on the furlough scheme earning 80 per cent of what might already have been a low wage, while others have lost their jobs completely with little hope of finding another.
The eviction ban has been a lifeline for people, but that protection has been swept away and many face eviction now if they cannot cover their rent.”
The First Minister said it still applies to areas in level 3 and 4 but no areas will be in those from Saturday.
Sturgeon said: “I do not underestimate the importance of the eviction ban—we have extended it on more than one occasion, I think—but it is also important that we do as much as we can to help people with the causes of rent arrears and to deal with those rent arrears.”
She cited loan funds for people in difficulty
She added: “There needs to be a package of measures and we will continue to keep that under on-going review.”
Sean Clerkin, of the Scottish Tenants Association, has also written to the Scottish Government to highlight the need for protection.
In a letter to Shona Robison, cabinet secretary for communities, he states: “I am writing to you to implement a ban on all evictions for all tenants in Scotland for rent arrears as long as this pandemic lasts because we have the ludicrous situation at the current time where tenants are protected from eviction in level 3 but not in level 2.”
He also asked for the scheme where rough sleepers were accommodated in temporary accommodation to be extended beyond the end of this month.
He said:”The Unsuitable Accommodation Order should be implemented in full so all homeless people can stay in quality,warm,dry and secure temporary accommodation with the emphasis in moving them into permanent social homes
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