Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent steps his Department has taken to help improve the living conditions in (a) local authority, (b) housing association and (c) private housing.

The Government is committed to halving the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030, building on the strong progress already made in improving the standards of rented homes since 2010. We are clear that everyone deserves to live in a home that is decent, safe and secure. We will bring the private rented sector under the scope of a Decent Homes Standard for the first time and have introduced Awaab’s Law, which will require social landlords to address hazards within a fixed time period.

The English Housing Survey sets out levels of overcrowding and damp and mould in rented homes and details of the findings are available online.

Our consolidated damp and mould guidance, developed with the Department for Health and Social Care covers the impacts of damp and mould on health, and sets out how all landlords in the private and rented sectors should address damp and mould.

The Secretary of State for Levelling Up Housing and Communities wrote to all providers of social housing and to all local authority chief executives. In these letters he set out his expectation that providers go further than the letter of the Decent Homes Standard, and have particular regard to damp and mould, and that local authorities should take action to resolve poor housing conditions in their area.

As I set out in my answer to Question UIN 8866 on 17 January 2024, we are committed to reducing overcrowding by increasing the supply of affordable housing and enabling councils and other social landlords to make better use of their existing stock. Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will deliver thousands of affordable homes for both rent and to buy right across the country.