StepChange responds to new £65m support for rent arrears

StepChange Debt Charity, which has been urging the Government through its Covid Debt Rescue campaign for additional support to help tenants who face a £360m rent debt backlog built up over the course of the Covid pandemic, welcomes today’s announcement of a new £65m of support to be delivered through local councils to help low income earners with rent arrears.

Peter Tutton, Head of Policy, Research and Public Affairs at StepChange, comments: “This additional £65 million of rent arrears support for low-income earners to be delivered through councils is helpful. While more will be needed to turn the tide on the backlog of rent arrears built up during the pandemic, which still needs attention in next week’s Budget, it should reduce the immediacy of the mounting eviction pressure facing some of the most vulnerable households with the most entrenched rent problem debt.”