Jun

MP kicks urges landlords to welcome foreign students as racism row erupts

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The chair of the UK’s
All-Party Parliamentary University Group has accused private landlords in
Cambridge of being unwelcoming to international students.

The city’s Labour MP Daniel
Zeichner, who is also shadow minister for Food, Farming and Fisheries, has
been reported as saying that issues with student
accommodation risked sending the wrong message to those thinking of studying in
the city.

He told local media that there had been examples of racism directed at Chinese students and that international students had also faced issues with private landlords.

Said Zeichner: “What we don’t want is a
message going back to people that Britain is anything other than a welcoming,
helpful place, not least given that some international students, of course, are
paying a lot of money in a lot of cases. It’s in everybody’s interest.”

While universities have behaved
well during the pandemic, Zeichner claims, problems have arisen for students in the private sector accommodation.

He said: “You’ve got a whole
range of landlords, from the professional national providers who can take a
policy position, some smaller local providers who are perhaps a bit harder to
deal with and then, of course, a whole plethora of individual private
landlords, and there it has been very, very patchy.”

Chris Norris, policy director for the
National Residential Landlords Association, says: “There is no place for racism
of any kind and we strongly condemn any landlords who might be engaging in such
activity.

“In view of the comments from Mr Zeichner we
are seeking clarification about the concerns that he has so that we might work
with him to address them.”

LandlordZONE
has not yet had a response from Zeichner’s office.

View Full Article: MP kicks urges landlords to welcome foreign students as racism row erupts