Last week marked exactly one year since the Grenfell Tower fire when 72 people lost their lives.

For me this was one of those moments where I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news; like the death of Princess Diana or the attack on the twin towers.

Gandhi said 'Poverty is the worst form of violence', and while no one would suggest that this was a deliberate act to cause harm to others (the public inquiry will establish the facts and set out why this appalling thing took place), it is fair to say that this fire should not have happened in 21st Century Britain.

It is also hard not to link the severity of the Grenfell Fire and the devastation that it left with the fact that the tower itself housed some of the poorest people in our society.

Since the tragedy, lots has been said about learning lessons from it so that it never happens again, but this will only be words unless real change in our approach to housing and markets comes about.

Firstly, landlords need to be more accountable for the property that they own.

Licensing laws are changing so that in October, houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) – which tend to have more than one household living within a building – require the landlord to get a licence.

But this is not enough.

I believe that any landlord renting out any type of property, not just a HMO, should be required to have a licence.

This will improve standards by making sure that all landlords are known, and are accountable.

Secondly, local authorities need to step up and make sure that they are protecting tenants by dealing with bad landlords.

All councils were given new powers last year to fine landlords who fail to undertake their responsibilities in HMOs.

Oxford City Council has had tremendous success fining wayward landlords, which has helped the council cover many of its costs.

Cherwell, however, has seen its ability to act held back by a failure to properly resource this department for the last two years. This puts tenants in Bicester and Banbury at risk.

Thirdly we need councils to ensure that they are providing enough genuinely affordable homes to rent. Too many are bought and used as investments or income.

The benefits of having houses rented out by housing associations rather than private landlords are numerous.

Not only is the rent significantly lower – which would cut the amount being paid in housing benefit – but housing associations are much more heavily regulated than private landlords. This means that their responsibilities when it comes to tenant safety are much greater.

Finally, we need national government to make more housing actually affordable. Labour has committed to linking affordability with incomes rather than house prices and to building more than a million affordable homes over ten years. This will ensure that there are alternatives to poor quality private sector housing for those on low incomes.

This is how we can really learn from Grenfell and make sure that something like it never happens again.