By the year 2020, one in 10 people in England will have no choice but to be on a social housing waiting list, unless urgent action is taken to build more homes, The Press Association has reported.
The warning comes from the National Housing Federation (NHF), which said that more people now have to join the housing waiting list, due to losing their jobs and having their homes repossessed. While there may be a sense of urgency, the problem comes in the construction sector having been slowed down by the recession, which has led to a steep fall in the number of affordable properties being built as a consequence.
This has led to the number of new homes being built slump to 70,000 per year and makes the target of 240,000 properties being built annually by 2016 an unlikely reality any time soon.
The NHF warned that if the situation continues like this, 6.5 million people in England can expect to be on the social housing waiting lists come 2020. This would be two million more then the Government foresaw, when they announced plans to build three million new homes two years ago.
The Federation is trying to persuade the Government to at least have 50,000 new social homes built over the coming year, with the NHF pointing out that this could be likely if ministers invest ?3.2 billion into a social housebuilding programme.
David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: ?It is deeply disturbing that, if current trends continue, one in 10 of the population would be on waiting lists by 2020. To get housebuilding back on track we need an urgent affordable house building programme, through which housing associations can quickly deliver thousands of decent homes for social rent.?
