The homes that children deserve: Housing policy to support families

Children need a firm foundation on which to build their lives, namely a secure and warm home which meets their needs and those of their family. But it must also be affordable, meaning that after housing costs there is sufficient money left over for everything else.

In recent times, as home ownership and social renting have declined, the private rented sector (PRS) has ballooned, with over one in five children (22 per cent) living in the PRS compared to one in 12 (8 per cent) just 20 years ago. This has given rise to growing instability, as whether families can stay put becomes increasingly out of the family’s control and is instead decided by their landlord. Overcrowding rates have grown and (despite recent improvements) one in five homes in the private rented sector fail to meet basic standards of decency.

Meanwhile, welfare reform has left the housing support system significantly weaker than 15 years ago.

In this report, we recommend that:

• local housing allowances are set to average local rents and the household benefit cap is removed
• the UK government’s plans to address insecurity in the private rented sector should go further, and include regulating the use of affordability checks for renters to tackle housing discrimination, and establishing a new English housing tribunal so that the new rights given to private renters can be enforced meaningfully
• an expanded social rented sector, which can offer unrivalled stability for families through long-term tenancies.