Campaigning housing charity Shelter has backed Labour’s Housing Secretary and the reforms she proposes.

Angela Rayner – who’s also Deputy Prime Minister – announced a package of revised housing measures at the start of this week’s Labour Conference, including:

• Consulting on a new Decent Homes Standard for the social rented and private rented sectors;

• Bringing forward legislation on Awaab’s Law to this autumn which aims to ensure hazards such as damp and mould are identified and remedied to set timescales;

• Bringing forward new access to information requirements on social housing landlords which will help tenants secure improvements to their homes;

• Bringing forward a Remediation Acceleration Plan to this autumn which will accelerate the removal of unsafe cladding and make existing homes safer; and

• Bringing forward plans to increase the building of high-quality homes through the revised National Planning Policy Framework.

Polly Neate, the chief executive of Shelter, says it is “promising to see the government take steps in the right direction”.

She adds: “For too long, housing has been neglected, under regulated and underfunded while generation after generation face the consequences.

“From tenants being forced to fork out on sky high rents, to families enduring damp and dangerous homes while their complaints go unanswered.

“Making sure that homes are safe and fit for the future is vital, but the government will never succeed in giving everyone a decent home until it invests in the genuinely affordable social homes this country needs. 

“That’s why it must set a clear target for social rent homes to end the housing emergency for good.”