Shelter says ''more new builds desperately needed''

UK housing is reaching crisis point with new builds deemed essential to stemming the rising affordability crisis, according to one housing charity.

Shelter, which lobbies the government on poor housing and homelessness, has found that many families are currently enduring appalling accommodation conditions and floundering in debt caused by mortgage repayments.

Mark Thomas, head of policy at Shelter, said that there needs to be an increase in the provision of recent homes as well as the government''s new powers for local authorities to insist on the usage of empty homes.

He said without new builds: "We are not going to make the progress we need in terms of addressing the really appalling conditions that many families and households and children currently experience."

The government has just commissioned a new report by social policy expert Professor John Hills into the role of social housing in the UK while another proposal is for housing associations to float on the stock market in order to raise money.


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