We're into the 6th week now of lockdown.
Now this week we want to talk to private renters
focusing on how they're coping in a,
not just a public-health but an economic and social crisis as well.
From the carers and the NHS and other key workers who we applaud from our windows, from balconies,
on the streets, on doorsteps, to the students who are having their final
years at University suddenly robbed away from them in the biggest crisis
since World War 2.
Now, government support is being provided, for example, they've vowed to stop evictions,
Universal credits being expanded ... but is it enough?
You're part of the Dorchester Court tenants Union ...
Tell me about why that was founded, what its aims are ...
So during the winter here at Dorchester Court ...
There's about a hundred flats here ...
A lot of us were without hot water and heating throughout the winter.
As you can imagine, that's not a nice scenario.
No, that's not ideal.
Yeah.
A group of us sort of came together and decided, you know, we've had enough,
this is not right.
This is a problem here that's been going on for decades ...
I'm sure there's many other NHS workers like myself in similar horrible conditions
throughout London, throughout Britain.
It's kind of how the day of work starts.
In the car, uniform, gloves I have a mask shield shield face ...
I didn't find a room at the moment, so I don't have any permanent accommodation.
I put all my stuff in the storage and I have my clothes.
I keep my food in the back of my car.
So basically this is my mobile house.
I mean, emotionally what's the toll?
Emotionally I'm destroyed.
I can't talk with my family because I start crying and I only text my family,
everything is fine, it's fine.
I can't go back to Romania.
It's juts, up and down.
I deserve support just because I wake up every day and I do packages of care for
end of life people and I take care of end of life people and nobody wants to
work with them.
We have to be safe in a safe place to call home,
to be safe, to have a room where you can have a key to be safe and wake up
you know, to know where you go, where you are coming from
and just have warm food on the table.
That's not something ... a luxury.
Is there not that constant worry, on top of so many other worries,
that you are constantly at risk of coronavirus?
That's why it's really hard to get a place because
because when they hear you are a carer or you work for the NHS,
in relating with patients,
they are afraid to get someone in the house.
How are you able to live at the moment?
It's not easy, so, I have all my belongings in a storage,
I have part of my clothes in the back of my car
and in the boot I have some food.
I'm working nine to five for the NHS
and then in the evening I'm working as a carer.
It's just not normal.
So, I normally work at Guy's Hospital and the Cancer Center there,
between St Thomas's Hospital where I'll be starting on Thursday.
You're going to be looking after patients, some of whom will be as ill as Boris Johnson,
some more ill and some of whom will die.
And then you'll come back to substandard housing,
how's that making you feel?
Frustration doesn't really cover it ...
It really angers me to come home,
I just got a few quotes in front of me here,
from them, 'landlord will look upon payment of rent favorably',
to me that's a veiled threat.
'The landlord can't afford to give tenants a discount'.
I came home to that one day after work.
You know, it makes you feel sick hearing things like that.
Obviously you've got your income from
the NHS, what about your partner?
My wages are only reliable wage.
I earn less than a fully qualified nurse.
Even if I gave them everything,
it wouldn't be our flat.
It wouldn't cover the, you know, the rent of our flat.
So when did you last pay rent?
Unfortunately we had to take the decision not no pay rent.
We need to eat, there's many other costs to living and if it's all coming out of my wage,
then yeah, I can't, you know, I can't cover the rent for the both of us.
So yes, since March we haven't been paying any rent.
How do you feel about going to work in the ICU?
There's a bit of nerves, you know, will there be enough protective equipment?
I've been told it will,
Will it work?
I have to shave my beard to get the mask to fit properly,
that's a bit of a little worry just for me
but yeah, like everyone there, we do the best we can
in a crisis and we just want to care for people, help people live.
If I was Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, speaking to you,
what would you ask?
I would ask him to come and stay with me for 24 hours.
Yeah, to live my life for 24 hours.
It needs to be no rent debt, it needs to be a permanent eviction ban and rent controls need to be
introduced after.
Are you worried that after this phase of the pandemic subsides to a degree
that action will be taken against, law did, NHS workers such as yourself,
and how does that make you feel?
Everyone is very worried about what happens afterwards.
You know, if there's debt, then people can't pay it
and they might be checked out of their homes
which frankly is ... yeah it's horrible.
How has coronavirus interfered with your life?
I had a weird one ... I was due to start a new job back on the 23rd of March,
I'd signed the contracts and you know ...
Ready to start and then obviously the pandemic hit ...
I am a subletter which has been a bit stressful with like, Universal Credit ...
How much more rent could you afford to pay?
Probably another month.
In terms of emotionally, what's the impact been?
I think as well as something about being 25, you know, feeling like you've got something
behind you and then, you know, the prospects of potentially having to
regress you know, living with ...
That's like an identity thing for me, I feel like I've sort of built a pretty solid base
here in London.
As like a gay man,
out and you know, doing my thing.
We've got a kitchen and we've got ourselves a little screen TV and you can see here
this is a square just outside Lancaster.
As you can see there's one person on a bike.
How's your apocalypse going?
Yeah, my third year has kind of gone down the drain a bit now.
It's pretty lonely, it's definitely different to how I imagined the apocalypse to be.
So how many of you live together?
Six of us in the house, six girls.
And what's your rent?
£455 a month.
With bills included.
Are you going to struggle to pay it?
No one in my family is working at the minute
so I can't really ask for help from anyone.
I've got a part-time job myself
which I'm still having to go to,
which is kind of really filling me up with anxiety
because I don't really want to be out
with the public at the minute.
Where are you working at the moment?
Toolstation.
Tell me about is Acorn , what is Acorn?
They've helped us here in Lancaster with students' rents because
the University has not agreed to let us out of the contracts
and Acorn, especially, the branch here, has been key honestly to
helping us get to where we are today which is having reduced rents for people.
They seem to have put a little pressure on the University through
student media, through Students' Union as well and through mainly a petition for
rent striking.
Some people will have to still pay all that rent, won't they?
If you move out and you give your keys back
and you've completely emptied your accommodation,
then you get 100% of your rent back.
However, if you don't do it by May 4th, you can pay 25% to keep your stuff here
or you can give them 28 days notice to vacate after which you'll pay 25%.
As an international student myself, I come from Belgium,
I have a really hard time getting home there's one train a day,
in reality I shouldn't even be going because we're all supposed to stay in place
and I do have people who were at risk, potentially at home
and I don't want to endanger them so I shouldn't go home, really.
Are you thinking of rent stiking in solidarity with others?
Yeah, of course. I'm not ... personally, I'm not even sure I can afford the rent, actually.
I'm actually planning on moving out within the next month and taking the 28 days option.
Have you thought about withholding rent?
We have spoke about that as a house but with two months left,
we don't really want to get into the hassle of this big thing that could go on and on.
Are you worried about debt?
Yeah to be fair.
We've already been with Uni loans and stuff like that.
I don't really come from, like, a wealthier background so was not something I could really handle.
How do you feel emotionally about this whole period and the whole situation
with rent and all of that?
It's frustrating to finish in such a bizarre note.
Imagine I suddenly turned into Boris Johnson, weird image,
what would you say, what kind of ask for people like you
would you put to Boris Johnson?
Just look out for private renters.
It just seems like nothing has been done for them, especially,
I've not seen anything in terms of representation for Uni students in terms of renting,
and the majority of students do go to private renters
and they're just not being protected.
Being a private tenant can be pretty tough even before the pandemic hit.
The number of private renters over the last 20 years or so has doubled
as home ownership has gone into freefall and council housing
has been sold off and not replaced.
Now, in London single tenants were spending up to 85%
of their monthly wages on rents and for other Londoners who is at least half.
So when you get not just a public health crisis but also an economic
and social crisis, it's no surprise that private renters are going to feel the brunt.