THE government made another last-minute U-turn today, extending its temporary ban on evictions for four more weeks – just two days before it was due to expire.

Opposition parties and other organisations had warned ministers that many thousands more households were likely to be evicted, and even made homeless, after falling into rent arrears due to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

During the lockdown, about 58,000 households were forced out of their homes and some 174,000 were warned by their landlord that they are facing eviction, according to Shelter.

The housing charity also estimated that almost 250,000 renters had fallen behind with their rent by the end of June, while the District Councils Network believes up to half a million people could be at risk of eviction.

Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield warned that 420,000 children would return to school in September with the threat of eviction hanging over them if the ban was not extended.

Renters have been protected from imminent eviction during the Covid-19 outbreak by the temporary ban, which was announced in March and extended in June but due to expire in England and Wales on Monday.

However, while tentatively welcoming the extension, the organisations have urged the government to use the extra time to come up with long-term solutions to the housing crisis.

In addition, landlords in England who want to evict tenants will now have to give six months’ notice in the majority of case to protect people from being forced out of their homes in the winter months.

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick announced the move after charities warned that there could be mass evictions around Christmas.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the “11th-hour U-turn” but said that “such a brief extension means there is a real risk that this will simply give renters a few more weeks to pack their bags.”

He added that Boris Johnson had “stuck his head in the sand” for months.

The Prime Minister is on holiday in Scotland and has been silent on the government’s U-turns over the past week, including the last-minute change in how A-level and GCSE students’ work would be graded.

Mr Starmer added: “The ban should not be lifted until the government has a credible plan to ensure that no-one loses their home as a result of coronavirus.”

London Renters Union (LRU) said that the U-turn had been “forced through by people power.

“But until there’s a permanent evictions ban and rent debt is forgiven, the government will just be kicking the can down the road,” the group tweeted.

The LRU will hold protests in London on Monday to demand that the ban be made permanent and other actions across Britain will take place on Friday. 

Community union Acorn, which is organising the national protests, tweeted: “[The extension] simply postpones the crisis and is little more than a sticking plaster, doing nothing to help people falling into arrears or to protect tenants from section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions further down the road.”

Crisis policy director Matt Downie said that the government must now use the extra four weeks to deal with the issue properly, rather than simply extending the ban again.

He said: “This is not the first time that we’ve had to reach the 11th hour to find out whether people desperately worried about homelessness will be protected from evictions.

“It creates deep concern, stress amongst people who know that landlords want to evict them, but also for all of us trying to make sure we don’t see another wave of homelessness.

“It’s not a responsible way to go about managing people living in precarious situations up and down the country, and we very much hope September 20 doesn’t lead to us having to have exactly the same conversation on the 18th or 19th of September.”

Shelter chief executive Polly Neate said that once Parliament reconvenes, it should give county court judges “extra powers” to stop renters being evicted because of “Covid arrears.”

Last week, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed that her government will extend emergency restrictions on evictions until March 2021, subject to parliamentary approval.