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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of people living in unsuitable housing.

There is no single definition of unsuitable homes, which could encompass a range of housing-related issues. We do make regular assessments of the housing stock through the English Housing Survey.

According to the English Housing Survey, in 2019-20, 16.3% of owner occupied and 23.3% of Private Rented Sector homes were non-decent. The number of social homes classified as non-decent reduced from 20% in 2010 to 12% in 2019. According to the same survey, in 2019-20, 8% of all households in England (1.9 million) had at least one person with a long-standing physical or mental health condition and said that they required adaptations to their home. 81% of households that required adaptations to their home due to their health condition felt their home was suitable for their needs. The 19% of households (374,000) that required adaptations and who considered their accommodation unsuitable accounted for 2% of all households in England.

This Government is clear that everyone deserves a safe, decent home, and is taking forward a range of measure to support this, including giving local authorities stronger enforcement powers, undertaking a comprehensive review of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, reviewing the Decent Homes Standard, and our recent consultation considered raising the accessibility requirements for new homes.