Shelter offers up a General Election manifesto – with more regulation for private landlords

Shelter offers up a General Election manifesto – with more regulation for private landlords

10:28 AM, 22nd September 2023, About 8 months ago 28

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Shelter has launched its manifesto for the next General Election, calling on all political parties to commit to a four-point plan to rebuild the country’s ‘broken housing system’.

The homelessness charity says this action must include clamping down on criminal landlords and more regulation of private sector landlords.

The manifesto, entitled ‘The Way Home: a manifesto to rebuild our broken housing system’, outlines the action needed to end the housing emergency and has been created with the help of 75 people with a ‘lived experience of the housing emergency’.

The manifesto demands that the next government:

  • Build 90,000 social homes a year for the next 10 years
  • Make private renting affordable and secure
  • Improve the quality and safety of rented homes
  • Strengthen and clarify housing rights.

‘Tackle the housing emergency head-on’

Shelter’s chief executive, Polly Neate, writing for Inside Housing, said: “No party can consider itself ready to lead the country unless it is willing to tackle the housing emergency head-on.

“This means taking bold action to rebuild our housing system on the generational principle it was designed on: to provide the homes our country needs.”

She added: “With private rents continuing to rise while wages stagnate, we must have a plan to prevent people from being trapped in a cycle of financial hardship.

“We need to make private renting affordable.

“This means regulating how much landlords can hike rents within a tenancy each year, to protect people from the stress and instability of huge rent increases.”

‘Private rental sector has more than doubled’

Ms Neate says: “The chronic shortage of social homes has meant the size of the private rental sector has more than doubled in the past 20 years.

“And a lack of effective regulation means that private renters are navigating the highest recorded levels of rent, poor conditions and the threat of an unfair eviction.”

She adds: “People are trapped in poor-quality homes that they can barely afford, unable to save and having to cut back on essentials to pay their bills.”

Private renting is ‘too expensive and insecure’

According to Shelter, its frontline services hear from people every day in ‘desperate and terrifying situation’ because there aren’t enough affordable homes and private renting is ‘too expensive and insecure’.

The charity says that for decades, successive governments have failed to build enough social homes.

As a result, 1.2 million households are currently stuck on social housing waiting lists, and there are 130,000 homeless children are staying in temporary accommodation – the highest ever recorded.

Ms Neate says that a new generation of social homes to rent is the only sustainable solution and it is the only housing tenure that’s affordable because rents are tied to local incomes.

To improve the quality and safety of rented homes, Shelter is calling for better management, robust regulation and proper enforcement standards for both social and private rented sectors.

It also says that local authorities need stronger powers to hold criminal landlords to account.


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Comments

Roogy

7:35 AM, 23rd September 2023, About 8 months ago

Shelter- Government - everyone continues to avoid the simple truth - to solve the housing problem we need to reduce and stop the uncontrolled population growth - drastically reduce immigration and remove those that have no right to be in this country This country has struggled to build sufficient homes for our natural population growth - the the government allows a million people into the country in two years - a disaster created by the government and totally avoidable

GlanACC

7:48 AM, 23rd September 2023, About 8 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Roogy at 23/09/2023 - 07:35
Actually, we need MORE population growth - butof working age people. Note the word WORKING - As the population gets older we need more tax paying people to keep the system working. We need the boat people to be skilled or usefull workers not just a drain on society. Let those that can graft stay and chuck out the rest.

steve watt

9:02 AM, 23rd September 2023, About 8 months ago

At the risk of sounding like Marie Antoinette: Renters who cannot affort the rent should buy their property. There are plenty on the market.

steve watt

9:09 AM, 23rd September 2023, About 8 months ago

Reply to the comment left by GlanACC at 23/09/2023 - 07:48
Yes, women should be encouraged to give birth to working age people. Waiting 18 years for babies to grow up will not solve today's problems.

JamesB

9:19 AM, 23rd September 2023, About 8 months ago

“This means regulating how much landlords can hike rents within a tenancy each year, to protect people from the stress and instability of huge rent increases.”
Well that's ok then. They love using emotive language, but in this case..."hike" means to "increase sharply", so if she is just worried about how much we can "increase sharply" I am fine with that. All of the rate increases I have ever put in have always been very modest and below inflation. It would be odd to lock below inflation and if inflationary increases are mandated I will be better off for the remaining time before I can finally free myself from the pain of being a landlord

Churchills Tax Advisers

9:23 AM, 23rd September 2023, About 8 months ago

Reply to the comment left by JamesB at 23/09/2023 - 09:19
The market regulates how much landlords can 'hike' rents.

If landlords increase rent above market price they will struggle to get tenants.

JamesB

9:24 AM, 23rd September 2023, About 8 months ago

Reply to the comment left by steve watt at 23/09/2023 - 09:02The only thing more expensive than renting a property........buying your own and then realising that the rent you were paying shouldn't have been compared just to the mortgage interest, but also the massive costs of long term maintenance, valuations, mortgage arrangment fees, epc improvements, insurance etc etc!

Lisa008

9:51 AM, 23rd September 2023, About 8 months ago

Immigration seems irrelevant to me. Many migrants will live together with other family members. That's one aspect, but remember that Landlords now act as the passport office, so no one can let a property to someone who isn't legally allowed to be here. They had Brexit, so I thought that would curb that 'problem'.

No, what the REAL issue is, is that the government sold off community housing stock (to win votes) and never replaced the units. We have more single people living as single households, yet they put Article 4 in place and try and limit the number of HMOs??!! Let people live together to reduce bills!!! Get more houses built! Build UP. You don't have to build OUT.

I see luxury tower blocks everywhere in London... Battersea... everywhere... these new builds are unaffordable to the vast majority of normal working people. How comes places like Dubai and Spain are building sites? How was China able to knock out a '10,000 bed' hospital in 5 minutes during covid and it's like to get a bloody shed put in your garden you need a whole committee and planning application?!

The PROBLEM is the 'political will' to solve the 'housing crisis' is nonexistent. Shelter should demand some land from the government, start a building company, import some builders who can whip up buildings in no time at all and get the job done.

Apparently, (if reports are to be believed) there's an exodus from the UK as the Millenials realise there is no work-life balance, and it'd be better for their finances (and mental health) to live in a more 'affordable' location, and work remotely... so with that, and the falling birth rate, and with the baby boomers due to drop off... this 'crisis' will start fixing itself...and whoever is in government at that time will (no doubt) take the credit for it. But the government hasn't done anything! And they won't do anything. They are useless. They're in their mansions. They don't know the real world.

Claire Smith

11:28 AM, 23rd September 2023, About 8 months ago

Reply to the comment left by GlanACC at 23/09/2023 - 07:48
I don't agree that we need more population growth as I believe that in future more work will be computerised. Those of working age need to support pensioners and children so they don't need an added burden of the unemployed.
Should I be wrong, I am sure that we would find workers from other countries to fill the gaps.

GlanACC

11:34 AM, 23rd September 2023, About 8 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Claire Smith at 23/09/2023 - 11:28
I have worked in computers for 40+ years. The paperless toilet will come sooner than the paperless office. Japan are going through the same issue, not enough workers to support the growth in us wrinklies

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