Government’s Two-Front Rent Failure Betrays British Tenants
Housing Secretary Angela Rayner’s explicit decision to rule out private rent controls, coupled with the government’s policy allowing social housing landlords to increase rents above the rate of inflation, represents a coordinated disaster for millions of tenants across England.
In a blow to private renters, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has reaffirmed that they will continue to live in an uncurbed free market. There has likewise been no relief for the country’s most economically vulnerable citizens in social housing, with social housing providers promised a 10-year settlement allowing rent hikes of Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) plus 1%.
This approach amounts to an ideological surrender, squeezing low-income families from both sides. It also exposes a severe disconnect between Burnham’s pledge to address the cost-of-living crisis and his understanding of one of its main causes.
Rayner’s Ignorance
Amost immediately on being appointed as new Secretary of State for Housing, Rayner ruled out rent caps and defended the decision by pointing to Scotland’s previous emergency controls as an example of failure, suggesting that arbitrary ceilings simply become an aspiration or floor for automated increases. Instead, she claims that the ability for private tenants to challenge unfair hikes via independent tribunals under the Renters’ Rights Act will naturally stabilize the market.
This defence falls apart upon basic analysis because Tribunals do not evaluate whether a rent hike is morally fair or affordable; they only check if it aligns with local open-market prices. If the entire local area has experienced an astronomical surge, this will just be reinforced by the Tribunal.
Government also points to its promise to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029 as a means of addressing the housing emergency. The promise is welcome but limited, and does absolutely nothing to shield an endangered family facing a imminent rent increases.
Social Housing Failure: Taxing the Poor Instead of State Investment
If the abandonment of private renters is an act of political neglect, the policy toward social tenants is an act of direct financial harm. Allowing local councils and housing associations to demand above-inflation rent increases (specifically the CPI + 1% formula), fundamentally perverts the purpose of “affordable” housing. The pledge commits to allowing such rises over an entire decade, but does not even tie these landlords in to use the extra on building new homes – it is policy on a wing and a prayer.
The standard justification for this above-inflation formula is that housing associations require predictable revenue streams to invest in building safety, retrofitting, and repairs. However, choosing to fund structural, nationwide infrastructure repairs by squeezing the wallets of low-income tenants rather than utilising general progressive taxation or central Treasury funding is both regressive and unjust.
The Convergence of Crises
By failing on both fronts, Government has created an inescapable trap. When private tenants are priced out of their homes due to soaring rents, their only safety net is the social housing sector. Yet, the social sector is now increasingly expensive, underfunded, and enabled to systematically drain household income faster than the average salary rise.
Angela Rayner’s recent announcement and continuation of previous government housing policy remains deeply flawed. True housing justice requires a unified framework with an immediate limit on how much private landlords can hike rents while strictly capping social rent increases at or below inflation.
Safe, affordable housing must be treated as a universal right and a public utility. By treating private rents as untouchable investments and social rents as a cash cow for state underfunding, the government is failing the very people it was elected to protect and represents an early betrayal of Burnham’s promised realignment of policy towards the working class.
A Unified Rent Retaliation
SHAC and other campaign groups have begun working together on a coordinated resistance to the rent squeeze, which began with a summit hosted by housing coalition Homes for Us. Previous events have shown that government can be forced to change its mind, but it will take a focussed fight back that unifies both private and social rents in their respective common interests.
SHAC is also continuing to support action by groups of tenants and residents, for example those holding ‘service charge strikes’ or protesting locally against rent increases. Join SHAC here to get involved.
28 July 2026
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