Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to ensure that everyone of pensionable age is in secure housing and not exposed to the risks of the private rented sector.

Ensuring older people have access to the right homes that suit their needs can help them to live independently for longer and feel more connected to their communities. We are committed to improving the diversity of accommodation available for older people, so that they can choose the best housing option for them, in the places they want to live.

Boosting the supply of a range of specialist housing across the country will be key to achieving this aim. We are investing £11.5 billion in the new Affordable Homes Programme, which includes the delivery of specialist or supported housing, including retirement housing.

A new government taskforce, as announced in the Levelling Up White Paper, will look at ways we can provide greater choice, quality and security of housing for older people. Further details on the scope of the taskforce work will be confirmed in due course.

We are committed to driving up standards in private rented accommodation for all tenants and we will be consulting on introducing a legally binding Decent Homes Standard in the Private Rented Sector and a landlord register. We will publish a White Paper in Spring this year that will set out our proposals for reform of the private rented sector.