Letter to Steve Reed on a Rent Control Bill, with newly elected Green Mayors

I have written to Housing Secretary Steve Reed to request that he take urgent action to end rip-off rents, and include a Rent Controls Bill in the King’s Speech this week. I have written alongside newly elected Mayor of Hackney, Zoë Garbett, and newly elected Mayor of Lewisham, Liam Shrivastava, and on behalf of every newly elected and sitting Green Councillor.

You can read the letter in full here:

The full text of the letter reads:

11th May 2026

The Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP
Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government

Dear Steve Reed MP,
We are writing to you as newly elected Green Mayors, alongside Carla Denyer MP and on behalf of
every newly elected and sitting Green Councillor, to request that you take urgent action to end rip-off
rents, and include a Rent Controls Bill in the King’s Speech this week.

Spiralling rents are ripping the heart out of our communities. People are being forced to cut back on
essentials just to afford a roof over their heads. Young people are being priced out of the areas they
grew up in, with schools in London closing as families are pushed out of the city. Teachers, nurses
and careworkers cannot afford to live in the boroughs they work in. Renters across the UK now pay
on average a third of their wages on rent, the highest level on record.

But whilst renters get poorer, wealth is being funnelled straight into landlords’ pockets. As you will be
aware, the government is set to transfer £70 billion to private landlords through housing support
between 2024-28. That is six times the amount of money that was spent on affordable homes over
the past five years. Housing has become a way to make money, rather than a universal right.

This scandal has to end. If we had frozen rents four years ago, households in Britain would now be
saving over £3,300 per year on average.

The Green Party’s success last week shows that the country is desperate for an urgent and
transformative programme to end rip-off Britain, and are angry that your government has failed to
deliver. Our mayoral, council and Welsh Assembly campaigns were rooted in fighting to end the
housing affordability crisis, and voters have spoken.

Keir Starmer has said that a break with the status quo is needed. The King’s Speech is your
opportunity to do this by getting behind the Green Party’s longstanding demands for crucial
measures to make life affordable for all, starting with rent controls. With food and energy costs set to
sky-rocket as a result of the illegal war on Iran, it has never been more critical.

If your government is in any way serious about improving the lives of the 11 million private renters in
England, you must commit to introducing rent controls now.

Yours sincerely,

Carla Denyer MP
Zoë Garbett, Mayor of Hackney
Liam Shrivastava, Mayor of Lewisham