Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove has vowed to give the “inadequate” social housing sector a boost in an apparent policy U-turn.

After decades of falling investment, government figures show there are more than a million households on the waiting list for a social rented home in England, according to Shelter. Speaking at the charity’s housing conference this week, Gove said the sector was in urgent need of reform.

“If we want to have functioning communities, if we want to have our cities and towns having places where keyworkers and individuals who keep our public services going can ensure that they have a decent roof over their heads and raise a family in stability and security, then we need more social homes,” he told delegates.

However, in the same speech, Gove also levelled criticism at the PRS, lending weight to the homeless charity’s line that it is now ‘broken’. He said: “The quality of the private rented sector, the circumstances in which people find themselves, the inadequacy of so many of those homes, the fragility and vulnerability that so many people find in their daily lives…is insupportable and indefensible.”