Gove pledges to improve social housing – and takes a swipe at PRS

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Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove has vowed to give the “inadequate” social housing sector a boost in an apparent policy U-turn.

After decades of falling investment, government figures show there are more than a million households on the waiting list for a social rented home in England, according to Shelter. Speaking at the charity’s housing conference this week, Gove said the sector was in urgent need of reform. “If we want to have functioning communities, if we want to have our cities and towns having places where keyworkers and individuals who keep our public services going can ensure that they have a decent roof over their heads and raise a family in stability and security, then we need more social homes,” he told delegates.

PRS criticised

However, in the same speech, Gove also levelled criticism at the PRS, lending weight to the homeless charity’s line that it is now ‘broken’. He said: “The quality of the private rented sector, the circumstances in which people find themselves, the inadequacy of so many of those homes, the fragility and vulnerability that so many people find in their daily lives…is insupportable and indefensible.” 

Gove added: “But the cost even for those who are in the care and in the hands of good landlords, compared either to what they would be paying if they had a mortgage or what they’d be paying if they were in social housing, is again indefensible in many cases.” 

Decent homes

Former Prime Minister Theresa May added that problems were caused because not enough homes were built over many decades. She said: “For too long, my party has been seen in many peoples’ eyes as the party only of homeownership. Indeed, dare I say it, our policies have too often made it seem that way. But we are the party of decent homes for all, be they people who want to rent their home or to own their own home.” 

Other speakers at the event included social housing campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa and the Bishop of Barking Lynne Cullens.

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