Over a million people are waiting for a council house, while the number of social homes for rent has fallen. More and more people are having to turn to private landlords, which is driving up demand and rents in the private sector, where millions live in the knowledge that they could be evicted at a moment’s notice.

While rents rise at record rates, the Government has decided to freeze housing benefits for private renters for the third year in a row. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, only 5% of new private rental properties on Zoopla can now be covered by housing benefits – the lowest level on record.

I have seen the reality of this situation first-hand, as many people from our community have reached out to me in need of support due to poor social housing, rent issues and homelessness. I have been left appalled by the dire situations many people across Sheffield Heeley have been left in due to the Government’s negligence and failure to improve our housing system.

Therefore, I believe we need to build more homes and put social and genuinely affordable housing at the heart of our plans to fix the system. I support calls to improve the quality and safety of existing social homes and reform purchasing rules to make it easier for councils to buy land for development, bringing in a new generation of council housebuilding.

I also want to see more rights and better protections for private renters, including an end to section 21 to prevent tenants from being evicted with little notice and minimal justification. I, therefore, welcome the Renters (Reform) Bill, which includes a ban on section 21 and limits rent increases to once a year, but I am concerned there are loopholes that could be used by ill-intentioned landlords to evict tenants while a range of other sensible measures have also been left out.

As the Bill progresses through the House of Commons, I will support efforts to push for a range of improvements to ensure private renters finally get the protection they deserve. My worry is that the Bill has made no progress since it was introduced to Parliament in May. It has now been over four years since the Government committed to reforming the sector. Ministers need to appreciate the real-world consequences of these delays and make progress on the Bill as a matter of urgency.