Evictions from a private tenancy are a major part of the 78% rise in homelessness since 2011. So-called allow private landlords to turf tenants out without any reason, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation attributes 80% of the recent rise in evictions to this process. We must be able to hold landlords to account if we are to lower the numbers of people that end up at local authorities’ doors.

Safer Renting Director Roz Spencer shares insights into London’s broken private renter market and demands proper protections for renters in the Guardian.

’On the first day of my paid internship at the Safer Renting project, my manager informed that I would be getting up at five o’clock the next morning to enter a property with a warrant from the magistrate’s court. I soon realised that this was no ordinary internship.’ – Safer Renting intern Sarah Collins shares her experiences.

‘Last November, Jack returned home after a holiday to find that the lock to his front door had been changed and some of his belongings were scattered across the hallway’ – An insight into the work of Safer Renting.

Safer Renting works with vulnerable tenants and victims of criminal landlords to help protect their rights and get justice. The Safer Renting blog from our Project Lead Roz Spencer tells the stories of the people we work with.

Safer Renting works to tackle criminal landlords and support their victims across London. The Project Director Roz Spencer, as seen on Channel 5’s Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords, has over 30 years’ experience working with private sector and social housing in London. This blog details her experiences tackling criminal landlords and working with some of the most vulnerable tenants in London.

Ken Loach’s new Palme D’Or winning film, I, Daniel Blake hit our cinemas on Friday. The film follows a 59-year old carpenter navigating a hostile welfare system to claim sickness benefit and a single mother who, in order to escape a homeless persons’ hostel, with her family is forced to relocate to a residence 300 miles away. I have high hopes for it to make the case to government about the dire state we’re in, both in housing and on welfare – governments are unfortunately slow to see the imperative for change until popular culture sets out the case.