Landlords in Liverpool are "discriminating" against families on benefits, according to a local housing union.
Across the city, some landlords are refusing to accept potential tenants who are receiving housing benefits to pay for their accommodation, including families, those who cannot work due to dependents or disabilities, and even people employed on low or part time wages who subsidise those wages with benefits.
Acorn Liverpool, a community housing union, said their research showed 80% of properties in the city are not available to those who plan to pay rent using benefits, even "affordable housing." Yet, this discrimination is not a new thing, according to Martin Mawdsley, spokesperson for Acorn.
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Martin told the ECHO: " We're finding it happening a lot now with the cost of rent going up and with the cost of living in general going up, for landlords they're even more wary of people on benefits who aren't in full-time, well paid jobs.
"It's really difficult to find a place to live at the moment even if you are in work, so it's even more difficult being a family or a renter in receipt of benefits who are looking for a place.
"You can call it benefit discrimination, you can call it classism, but as well as that, people on benefits are more likely to belong to other demographics and other groups who face discrimination as well: single mothers, refugees, asylum seekers, LGBTQIA+ people and so on. So it becomes another form of discrimination too."
One man on benefits told Acorn he couldn't even find a room in a shared property .
It's not against the law for landlords to deny a prospective tenant because of they intend to pay rent using benefits, yet Shelter, the national housing and homelessness charity, reports that multiple times courts have found landlords refusing people on benefits to be acting unlawfully, as it served to indirectly discriminated against women and people with disabilities.
Shelter said that benefit discrimination can also leave those attempting to escape domestic violence stranded with their abusive partner, as they cannot access the means to move away.
Acorn said that benefit discrimination in this manner also puts heavy financial pressure on the council, leaving them to provide housing or support for people who should be able to find it elsewhere though are prevented from doing so.
However, things might be about to change for the better.
Acorn recently presented a motion to Liverpool City Council with the support of Cllr Sarah Doyle calling for the council to commit to ending benefit discrimination by landlords in the city. The motion was passed unamended, without a single vote against it.
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