Every council in England knows that local government is at the coalface of the housing crisis in our country.
The number of households in temporary accommodation exceeds 131,000 (the highest since records began), 4,667 people are estimated to be sleeping on the streets, and 1.33 million people are waiting on local authority housing registers.
The cost to local authorities of providing temporary accommodation has increased by 220 per cent in five years.
It’s easy to look past these figures, but every single one represents a life hampered by the failure of the Conservative government’s 14 years in power.
Beyond this, the scourge of poor quality housing stock in the private rented sector means people are living in substandard, sometimes dangerous, conditions, while being too scared to raise it with their landlord because of the threat of eviction – used so that the property can be relisted at an excessive above-market rate, while the tenants are forced to bid for another property.
This is why I am so pleased that the Renters’ Rights Bill is in its final stages and will soon receive Royal Assent.
It will apply the Decent Homes Standard and Awaab’s Law to the private rented sector, make it illegal to discriminate against prospective tenants with children or in receipt of benefits, end the practice of rental bidding that forces people to overpay for somewhere to live, and crucially, will abolish Section 21 evictions, giving tenants security.
These are true Labour decisions, taken for working people and families up and down the country, while reducing the pressures on local government.
Alongside the £84 million cash injection directly to councils to prevent homelessness and help children and families in temporary accommodation, this Government is on the side of our communities, and the councils and councillors that work so hard for them.