Doubling in inquiries over housing as rents go up, says Citizens Advice

The demand for housing advice has almost doubled as the cost-of-living crisis intensifies, says a report.

The Citizens Advice Scotland study shows more people now seek help with rent costs and other housing issues than before the pandemic.

Aoife Deery, CAS social justice spokesperson, has called on the Scottish Government to offer more support to those struggling.

Concern about landlords hiking rents is eight times higher than at the start of the pandemic, with views of online advice pages up 48%.

Page views for online advice around foodbanks and crisis support have almost doubled since March 2021.

Preliminary 12-month data for guidance from the Citizens Advice Bureaux also suggests demand for debt advice is near pre-pandemic levels.

Meanwhile, demand for advice around energy is now higher than before the pandemic. It makes up more than 5% of all advice given, compared to 3.3% before the pandemic.

Ms Deery said: “This data for March 2022 shows that even before the impact of the energy price cap increase in April demand was growing for advice around the cost of living.

“A growing concern has to be housing. We’ve seen huge increases in demand for page views on landlords increasing rent in March alone.

“Across the CAB network itself, demand for housing advice is now higher than it was before the pandemic.

“It’s clear that people are struggling and we need to see action from policy makers to ease the squeeze the cost-of-living crisis is putting on people.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are investing almost £770m per year in cost of living support, including through a range of family benefits not available elsewhere in the UK, doubling the Scottish Child Payment, mitigating the bedroom tax, and increasing Scottish benefits by 6%.

“Our New Deal for Tenants consultation proposes a range of reforms – from better protection against eviction to more rights to personalise tenants’ homes and higher quality standards.”

The consultation included a commitment to new rent controls, the spokesperson added.

“Demand for housing advice is now higher than it was before the pandemic