Housing charity joins British Gas to improve homes

Published by Max Salsbury for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Communities, Environment

Homeless charity Shelter has gone into partnership with British Gas to improve the living conditions of 1m households.

The five-year venture centres on a three-point plan which aims at improving standards in the private rented sector.

'Better Homes for Britain' will help landlords meet the statutory minimum standard for private rented homes and make policy recommendations to raise conditions in the sector.

Around 1.4m (37%) of Britain's 3.62m private rented homes do not meet the basic standard of being a ‘decent home', due to issues including damp, disrepair and insufficient or broken heating.

Since 2001, the number of private rented homes has grown from 2.06 million to 3.62 million, a rise of 75%.

Phil Bentley, Managing Director of British Gas, believes that there is a prevalence of homes with dangerous boilers and insufficient insulation in the sector. He said: "We need a culture of energy efficiency, and standards need to be raised."

Campbell Robb, Chief Executive of Shelter, added: “At Shelter we see so many shocking examples of families forced to live in homes that are damp, in appalling condition or even unsafe to live in.

“Together with British Gas, we’ll have the scale and reach to improve the condition of a million homes and set out the policy reform we need to improve our private rental sector for good.”