Robert Rinder, the reality TV celebrity and barrister, has joined the campaigning charity Shelter to oppose what he describes as illegal evictions and unfair housing policies.
He says in an interview in The Guardian that there are 320,000 renters who have been plunged into arrears because of Coronavirus. `
“Just imagine the implications for our communities and the country at large when we think about the possibility of what will ensue” he says, insisting that the immediate priority of policy makers should be to keep people safe in their homes.
He wants emergency funding to clear renters’ Covid-related arrears and ‘wraparound advice services’ to advise on what he believes will be a coming wave of debt, mental illness and family crisis.
Rinder, who presents the Judge Rinder mock-trial programme on daytime ITV, has become a legal ambassador for the charity, which has 46 solicitors, 25 legal advisers and 30 legal support workers fighting eviction cases, representing tenants in court and helping them access emergency accommodation if required.
The TV star says he was delighted at Shelter’s success in landmark court cases which have established the illegality of so-called 'no DSS' policies by private landlords.
The overt discrimination of 'no DSS' is staggering, he tells The Guardian.
He says people claiming benefits they are entitled to can pay their rent but until the landmark cases they were sometimes refused a home: “Just think of it for a second. If that doesn’t take your breath away, you need to sit down somewhere and think about yourself.”
He also says in the piece that he is aware some people could brand him a bleeding-heart liberal.
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