Housing secretary Michael Gove has pledged to ‘tilt' Government funding to build more homes for social rent.

Speaking at a conference organised by housing and homelessness charity Shelter, Mr Gove 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 ... that is a function of broader supply questions, but it is also a critical function of our failure to ensure that there are homes that are genuinely affordable for rent, our failure to ensure that there are more social homes.

‘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.'

Government figures have shown there are more than a million households on the waiting list for a social home in England.