THE First Minister will set out her programme for government next week. I hope it has something to say for private renters across Scotland, who have been badly let down so far.

This unprecedented crisis will affect our lives for months, and perhaps years, to come. We were asked to stay at home unless we absolutely needed to go out. We were asked to work from home if we could. As lockdown has eased, we have once again been enjoying basic freedoms – but local lockdowns remain possible. Official guidance remains focused on households. One’s home is a sanctuary against an invisible and deadly foe. For many people, it is now also their workplace.

Having a secure home has become a vital bulwark against a global pandemic. Indeed, a welcome development during this crisis has been the speed and determination of public agencies and the third sector coming together to provide safe accommodation for rough sleepers. Work is under way to ensure nobody returns to the streets.

However, for the 340,000 households living in the private rented sector, security has never been more important. Over two decades of devolution, the number of households living in private rented accommodation has trebled: 14% of households now rely on it to provide them with a home. While many people prefer to rent privately, a shortage of genuine affordable housing means many others have no choice but to rent from private landlords.

When the pandemic hit, it was clear that radical action would be required to ensure people were secure in their homes. The Scottish Greens welcomed the longer eviction notice periods put in place by the emergency legislation, but it was clear from the start that the Government did not understand the scale of the difficulties that private rented sector tenants would face.

During the passage of the emergency legislation, the Scottish Greens argued for a real ban on evictions: no landlord should be allowed to issue a notice to leave during the emergency period, and eviction orders arising from notices to leave issued before the pandemic should be suspended. We lodged further amendments to prohibit evictions due to arrears arising because of Covid, establish a tenant hardship fund, freeze rents for two years and write off arrears in exceptional circumstances. These proposals were rejected in an intemperate and ill-considered manner.

Under pressure from the Greens and others, the Scottish Government has now announced that they will extend the emergency protections from eviction put in place by the first Coronavirus Act. The extension of these provisions is necessary and welcome.

But it’s not enough. The First Minister told us that the intention of the emergency laws was that no one should be evicted as a result of coronavirus, but as things stand, people will be evicted because of the pandemic. Indeed, evictions are already taking place – even as the threat of a surge in cases looms.

Frustratingly, Government ministers have created the impression in Parliament and the media that no-one can be evicted from their homes during the pandemic. But people are being evicted every week.

This is because the current provisions are not an eviction ban, but merely an extension of the notice a landlord can give a tenant they wish to evict. This means that all notices to leave issued since April 7 will take effect over this winter. If tenants do not move out, eviction orders can be sought from the courts. Since the courts have re-opened after lockdown, 40 eviction orders have been issued. Some of these have been for tenants who are vulnerable or even shielding.

Furthermore, the courts have more than 500 outstanding applications for eviction orders, which will be dealt with in the months ahead.

The vast majority of these applications will be due to rental arrears. Hundreds of thousands of people in Scotland rely on renting out property to supplement their income or pension. Many cannot afford to support tenants who, in turn, cannot afford to pay their rent. In the months to come, many more private tenants will be unable to afford their rent.

All of this might have been made more palatable had private sector tenants been actively involved in the process. Remarkably, the Private Rented Sector Resilience Group established to keep matters under review contains no representatives of private tenants. Naturally, the Scottish Association of Landlords plays an active role.

I still find it unbelievable that the Scottish Government conspired with the Tories to establish a landlord support fund while voting against creating a hardship fund for tenants. Such a fund has subsequently been established by the Welsh Government.

What we need from this programme for government is a real winter eviction ban, and longer-term reform to strengthen tenants’ rights. Private tenants deserve to have their human rights to a home upheld.