Housing groups hit out at discriminatory adverts for homes to let in England

At least one in 10 rental properties in England are likely to be advertised unlawfully by explicitly discriminating against people who rely on housing benefit, new research has found. The analysis of around 86,000 letting agent adverts on Zoopla by the National Housing Federation and Shelter shows that 8,710 adverts for different residential properties in England say ‘no DSS’ or ‘no housing benefit’. It says that a shortage of social housing and high house prices have led to rapidly growing numbers of people having to rent privately and depend on housing benefit. There are now more than 1.4 million people in this situation in England.