The Week in Housing: Gove defends stalled renters reform as Labour pledges immediate Section 21 ban

Good afternoon.

The week after the publication of the manifestos began saw more detail on reforming the private rented sector from the Labour Party.?

If elected, Labour confirmed it will immediately ban Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions, introduce legal protection for renters, put an end to ‘rental bidding wars’ and bring in a cap on the amount of rent requested upfront for rental properties.

Following this pledge, housing secretary Michael Gove explained?why the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill was prioritised before the election and recommitted to his ambition of 30,000 social rent homes.

Part of his reasoning was that his leasehold legislation was “more complex” and would have taken “far longer” to pass if it was sent “back to square one”.

Launching its manifesto this week, the Scottish National Party will push for the UK government to devolve housing benefits to expand the delivery of social housing.

The party said it would call for the UK government to devolve housing benefit and Local Housing Allowance, which will “allow the Scottish government to take an innovative approach to tackle child poverty, expand the delivery of social housing and to help fund and encourage investment in housebuilding”.

The previous week, Plaid Cymru’s manifesto?committed to delivering a “significant expansion” in social and municipal housing. The party said that it would develop a plan to “meet local housing need in all parts of the country, accessing a mixture of public and private funding streams”.

With election season in full swing, Inside Housing looked at how political parties’ housing pledges have been reported.

Despite being a major polling issue and a regular question on radio phone-ins and public hustings,?housing is yet to grab much of the limelight in this election campaign.

Many in the sector might be hoping that those candidates from a housing background who are standing to become MPs next month will be able to influence policy if they are successful.

As the election approaches, organisations have been making their asks known.

More than 50 organisations signed a letter calling on whoever forms the next government to take “urgent action” to reduce homelessness and rough sleeping.

Homeless Link, the National Housing Federation, Crisis and Shelter are among the organisations calling on leaders to prioritise addressing homelessness in the next parliament, to create a long-term plan for housing, and to build 90,000 social homes per year to address the crisis.

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