EU Citizens Subject to Discrimination When Renting a Home in UK Due to Digital Immigration Status
The new conclusions have been reached through a recent study provided by the University of York, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.
The report’s authors have urged the government and watchdog, the Independent Monitoring Authority, to review whether the switch to the new digital system, presented after the Brexit transition period, breaches the Withdrawal Agreement by discriminating against citizens of the European Union, as reported by York.
In order to continue to live in the United Kingdom once the Brexit transition period ended, EU citizens were required to apply for settled or pre-settled status. It has been clarified that these citizens have only been given digital proof of their right to work and also live in Britain rather than physical documentation such as an ID card.
The research found that ID status held sway over landlords’ decisions regarding who they would like to rent to over and above other factors such as gender, ethnicity, profession, or age.
“The European Union settlement scheme is heavily digitised, and it immediately occurred to us that this meant it was more likely to discriminate against different types of EU citizens, such as the elderly and disabled. After hearing anecdotal evidence of citizens of the EU experiencing difficulties renting in an extremely competitive housing market, we felt a duty to investigate,” Co-lead author of the study, Joe Tomlinso, from York Law School at the University of York, pointed out in this regard.
He stressed that the results of the study indicate that the government of the United Kingdom is breaching the Withdrawal Agreement.
“Landlords revealed a clear preference for traditional, paper-based forms of ID. Prospective tenants having a non-UK sounding name did not influence landlords’ decisions when they had a UK passport, but with a shared code, those tenants were suddenly at a real disadvantage. This indicates there is something about digital documents which can compound disadvantages in the housing market,” co-lead author of the report, Jed Meers, from York Law School at the University of York, emphasised in this regard.
Previously, it was reported that a total of 246,000 European citizens, together with their families living in Britain, have been waiting for more than one year in order to have their documents proving they are residing in this territory legally.
Without such documents, citizens of the EU living in Britain face significant difficulties, such as getting jobs, travelling abroad, renting homes, and getting public health services.
