Angela Rayner set out measures to protect renters from fire safety defects, damp and mould in her speech at the Labour Party conference yesterday.
The deputy prime minister and housing secretary, committed to “building homes fit for the future”, while also pledging to bring forward a Remediation Acceleration Plan this autumn to speed up the removal of unsafe cladding on high-rise buildings.
Other measures Rayner announced on Sunday included consulting on a new “decent homes standard” for the social and private rented sectors, and a new law to make landlords respond to complaints about disrepair within legally binding timescales.
Here is part of Rayner’s speech relating to housing at the Labour Party Conference yesterday:
“14 years of Tory chaos has not just left its mark on people’s jobs, but on homes too.
Not enough are being built. The Tories failed to meet their targets year, after year, after year.
Michael Gove handed back nearly £2 billion to the Treasury in unspent housing funds. Mortgages have soared. Leaseholders are left at the mercy of eye-watering charges. Renters face crippling rent hikes in damp and mouldy homes. Homelessness is all around us.
The simple aspiration of a safe, secure and affordable home is further out of reach than ever and we can’t go on like this. So change must begin at home.
We are tackling the Tories’ housing emergency.
We will get Britain building and building decent homes for working people.
A new planning framework will unlock the door to affordable homes and provide the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation.
And Conference, our renters’ bill will rebalance the relationship between tenant and landlord and end no fault evictions – for good.
Our long-term plan will free leaseholders from the tyranny of a mediaeval system.
And a cross-government taskforce will put Britain back on track to ending homelessness.
Whether you’re a leaseholder, a tenant, a home-buyer or without somewhere to live – this government is on your side.
But my mission is not just to build houses, it is to build homes.
Because we cannot build at any cost. These new homes must be warm, secure and most importantly safe.
We will give families the security they need to have the best start in life.
I know first-hand the difference a decent home can make.
When I was growing up we didn’t have a lot. But we had a safe and secure home. Today, not everyone does.
Working with the Prime Minister on the Grenfell Inquiry was the most sobering moment of my career: 72 lives lost, 18 children, all avoidable. A fatal failure of market and state. A tragedy that must never happen again.
It is completely unacceptable that we have thousands of buildings still wrapped in unsafe cladding seven years after Grenfell.
And that’s why we will bring forward a new remediation action plan this Autumn to speed up the process and we’ll pursue those responsible – without fear or favour.
This must lead to new, safer social housing for the future.
Under the Tories, new social housing plummeted.
We will reverse that tide – with an ambition to be build more social homes than we lose, within the first financial year of this Labour Government.
In my first weeks in office, I set out how we will start this council housing revolution.
But Conference, with Government support must come more responsibility.
This is why today I want to give you my promise that this Labour Government will take action to ensure all homes are decent and safe, and residents are treated with the respect they deserve.
And Conference, of course, many Housing Associations, councils and landlords do good by their tenants and I know how hard they’ve had it after 14 years under the Tories.
Which is why I will work in partnership with the sector to deliver the change.
I will clamp down on damp and mouldy homes by bringing in Awaab’s Law in the social rented sector this autumn and we’ll extend it to the private rented sector too.
We will consult and implement a new Decent Homes Standard for social and privately rented homes, to end the scandal of homes being unfit to live in.
We will also ensure social housing staff have the right skills and experience. And I will ensure 2.5 million housing association tenants in this country can hold their landlord to account for their high quality services and homes. So that repairs and complaints are handled faster, but more importantly, so social housing tenants are treated fairly.
I am under no illusion about the mountain we have to climb.
We all saw that this summer: violent extremists preyed on our communities and local councils were left picking up the pieces.
Local leadership is the foundation of strong communities.
That’s why I have put local government back where it belongs, at the heart of my department’s name and mission.”