This Government Must Make Private Rent More Affordable. Here’s How They Can Do It

The government can make our country affordable again for everyone. Ben Cooper, research manager at Fabian Housing Centre, writes in the Big Issue.

Millions of people are in a daily struggle to afford the roof over their head. Around 2.6 million people are pushed into poverty because their housing costs are so high. Housing is both a major monthly expense and a source of great insecurity, feeding a sense that this country is broken. With the government’s focus on the cost of living, ministers cannot afford to ignore this.

In recent months, the government has made some welcome progress on housing policy. Planning reform will help address the housing shortages that led to rapid price increases. A £250 cap on annual ground rents will reduce leaseholders’ bills. Government investment will deliver thousands more social homes each year, which will be genuinely affordable for people to rent. And the Renters’ Rights Act will limit rent increases to once a year, cut rent demanded in advance, and ban bidding wars. These are major successes that will improve many people’s lives.

But these policies must mark only the beginning of a more comprehensive set of measures to cut housing costs. By tackling this through comprehensive action, the government can make our country affordable again for everyone. Cutting costs must be embedded into every policy – so the 1.5m new homes target focus on delivering enough good quality, affordable homes to buy or rent, not just building lots of units that are expensive to buy and costly to run. And it is about the wider community that homes sit within. Well-designed places can ensure people have access to affordable services, like public transport.

The immediate priority is the private rented sector. Around one in five households rent privately. And, in December 2025, the average monthly rent in England was over £1,400 – up 4 per cent on a year earlier. Compared to a decade earlier, private rents have increased by £440 a month. This is no longer just a London problem either. The northeast and northwest saw the largest rent increases in 2025, both in percentage and cash amounts. Places like Bristol, Leeds and Trafford are as unaffordable as parts of London for the average private renter.

The recently passed Renters Rights’ Act is a really welcome piece of legislation that will provide security for private tenants, but it will do little to make renting more affordable. And without further reforms, landlords could try to push the costs of the required home improvements onto tenants. Landlords must be prevented from hiking up rents over the next few years to pay for their historic failure to invest in their properties.

This is why the Fabian Housing Centre is looking for solutions to improve the affordability of the private rented sector, particularly for those on the lowest incomes. We are exploring how to make local rents transparent, so tenants know if they are getting a good deal or not. There must also be better ways for renters to challenge unacceptable increases in practice, rather than getting bogged down in an overburdened legal system. It could be made easier for landlords to rent out to those who need Local Housing Allowance. Finally, we need a serious and evidence-based conversation about how to limit rent increases, perhaps by inflation or wage increases, without impacting on the supply of private rented homes.

The government is rightly prioritising both housing and the cost of living. These are urgent challenges that affect people every day. And while the challenge to improve housing affordability is significant. And while the challenge is significant, governments have successfully taken on big housing issues before. Ministers should be inspired by their Labour predecessors’ success in sweeping away slums and improving over a million social homes in the first decade of this century. This government could have a similar such an impressive and life changing legacy, repairing the belief that our country works again for ordinary people. But if it wants to show progress by the next election, work will need to start now.