'I couldn't sleep, eat or function after eviction stress'

Evictions are starting to look like a key driver of youth homelessness, charity Centrepoint tells the BBC. Young people facing eviction share the toll it has taken on their mental health.

Thai moved into her flat in 2018 and it soon became her own "little slice of Bristol".

So when she was told she'd have to leave, the impact was huge. "I couldn't sleep, or eat, or function," she says.

She even had to go back onto medication for anxiety and depression.

The youth homelessness charity Centrepoint tells the BBC it is hearing from more 16-to-25-year-olds than ever who are facing eviction, external.

And evictions are starting to look like a key driver of homelessness for young people, says director of policy Balbir Kaur Chatrik. "That's something we have not seen before."

"A stable home is more than just bricks and mortar, it's a foundation for a healthy and happy life," Balbir says, adding that many young renters are facing the pressure of eviction and competing for "overpriced and substandard housing" that will negatively impact their mental health.

"Once I was served with the eviction, I went back on to antidepressants and I was also prescribed benzodiazepines just to get me over it," says Thai, a sales and marketing manager at an escape room.

In November 2022, Thai was served with a Section 13 notice, which allows her landlord to request a rent rise. They wanted to raise her rent from £450 to £750. Refusing this, Thai was served with a Section 21, meaning she'd have to leave her home of five years.

She called her mum, in tears: "The way that the letter was written, I thought that's it, I'm going to be homeless for Christmas."

With her community union, Thai decided to take direct action by marching to the offices of her letting agent and landlord to read a letter she'd written, refusing the rent increase. "To finally be empowered to stand up for myself," she says, "it really healed me." Thai's landlord, however, claimed he was being harassed by the union.

Despite negotiating with her landlord to stay an extra three months for an extra £50, Thai will be leaving her flat in June. She's hoping she can stay in Bristol.

Thai says that the impact on her is lingering: "I was looking at pictures from a year ago - this year has aged me. It's hit me, emotionally and very physically.

Danielle says facing eviction from her shared house in Lewisham immediately took away her stability.

"Where you lay your head at night is your sanctuary and if you don't have that, quickly everything else around you becomes very unstable," the 25-year-old says.

The stress and anxiety meant she stopped doing her normal daily routines. "When you get into a depressive state, you stop taking care of yourself and you stop cleaning. I stopped caring.

"I thought, 'What is the point? I'm not even going to live here anymore.' For the first couple of weeks, it was the worst."

And for Danielle, the experience was particularly painful because it brought back memories of when she was homeless after university, when she slept in her car and showered at her gym. That experience had been so bad that she had two mental health breakdowns.

And the threat of eviction made her fearful she might end up in the same situation again.

"It made me feel like I was going backwards. That's what shocked me the most. I worked so hard to get away from being homeless and to be stable. And I'd done so well. It was worrying to undo all that.

"Honestly, being homeless was the worst, worst part of my life. I thought I'd gotten away from it."

Eventually Danielle, who like Thai was told she was paying below market rates for her property, decided to investigate her rights.

She works in housing - alongside being a freelance personal trainer - and after contacting her local council, she discovered that the property she lives in did not have the proper licence for a shared house. This meant the eviction notice was invalid.

She is now waiting to find out if a proper licence will be secured and whether she'll be served with another eviction notice. She's expecting she'll have to leave eventually.

In England, close to 20,000 people were served Section 21 notices in 2021/22. They're also known as no-fault evictions because landlords do not need to give a reason.

Simon Gunning, CEO of suicide prevention charity CALM, says the absence of basic needs, such as housing, contributes "dramatically" to the risk of suicide and poor mental health.

Meanwhile, Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), says its organisation encourages landlords to take seriously the mental wellbeing of their tenants.

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Ansar, a lettings manager in Oldbury in the West Midlands, has helped oversee evictions for the past 10 years by acting as a go-between for landlords and tenants. Recently, he says the rate of evictions has "blown up".

On the day of an eviction, Ansar is often present to make sure that the bailiffs follow the correct procedures. But it's not an easy job, he says. "We're the bearers of bad news."

Ansar says the blame is falling on the wrong people: "Estate agents and landlords are being made to look like the bad guys but the whole system is broken."

For other young people facing an eviction, Danielle recommends contacting their local council and housing charities.

"It's really important that young renters know their rights," she says.

Information and support is available via the BBC Action line here and here.

Watch Evicted on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer on Thursday 27 April.

Originally published 23 May 2023.