By UNISON general secretary Andrea Egan
For millions of renters, the new protections starting today under Renters’ Rights Act represent something that has been missing from housing policy for far too long: the idea that people deserve security, dignity and stability in the place they call home.
After years of campaigning by tenants, trade unions and housing activists, the end of no-fault evictions and stronger rights for renters are genuinely welcome steps forward. For too many workers, especially those in public services, the private rented sector has become defined by insecurity, soaring costs and the constant fear that a landlord can upend your life with little warning.
That matters because housing is not separate from work. UNISON members know that better than most.
You cannot build a stable workforce when workers are skipping meals to pay rent. You cannot recruit and retain staff in our hospitals, schools and councils if people cannot afford to live in the communities they serve. And you cannot talk seriously about economic growth while housing costs swallow up wages before people even reach payday.
The Labour government deserves credit for moving renters’ rights forward. But the question now is simple: what next?
Because for many renters, particularly younger staff, migrant workers and those on the lowest incomes, the crisis is not just about insecurity. It is about affordability.
Even modest rent rises are pushing people to breaking point. UNISON’s own housing research has repeatedly shown workers cutting back on heating, food and savings simply to keep a roof over their heads. UNISON’s young members in particular have campaigned hard on this issue.
That is why calls within Labour for a rent freeze should not only be supported, but should be met with demands for a clear plan of lasting rent controls.
With the Strait of Hormuz still closed and Trumpflation driving up household costs, it is ordinary working people who are once again being asked to absorb the shock. Renters should not be left behind while profits and bills continue to rise around them.
Obviously, a temporary rent freeze and even long-term rent controls cannot solve the housing crisis on its own. Britain desperately needs more council and social housing, stronger tenant protections and long-term reform of a rental market that too often treats homes as investment vehicles rather than places to live.
Labour has made reforms to Right to Buy, but the basic principles of it still remain, making it hard for councils to build on the scale necessary.
But what limits to rents would do is provide breathing space for millions of workers facing financial pressures that otherwise feel relentless.
Housing justice is a trade union issue. It always has been. And if this government is serious about fairness between generations, about tackling inequality and about improving living standards, then the Renters’ Rights Act must only be the start.
And this is certainly not the moment for ministers comfortably insulated by home ownership to dismiss action on rents as somehow “not credible” or “not serious”.
There is nothing serious about expecting working people to absorb endless rent hikes while wages stagnate and living costs soar. For millions of renters, this is not a theoretical policy debate – it is the difference between staying afloat and falling into crisis.
The post Opinion: Yes, the government should freeze rents – and develop a plan for long-term rent controls appeared first on UNISON National.
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