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70% of people say government not doing enough to tackle housing crisis, new research finds
Around 70% of people in England think the government is not doing enough to tackle the housing crisis, according to new research for the National Housing Federation (NHF).
The research also found that three-quarters of the population believe there is not enough affordable housing in their area or across the country, and that two-thirds believe it will be harder for young people to find somewhere affordable to live in five years’ time.
The research, carried out by the National Centre for Social Research on behalf of the NHF, asked people about their attitudes to affordable housing in England.
It also called on the government to allocate more funding to the sector in the upcoming Autumn Statement.
Kate Henderson, chief executive of the NHF, said the findings were “a clear message from the electorate to government that they need to build more affordable homes unless they want to risk losing more voters”.
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She added: “It’s no surprise so many people are disillusioned, given there is a whole generation of young people who can’t afford to buy or stay living near their family and who can’t access social housing.
“Instead, hundreds of thousands of people are stuck paying extortionate rents on insecure contracts. Others can’t start families and, in the worst case scenarios, people have been pushed in to homelessness.”
The organisation’s figures showed that around 43,000 affordable homes were built last year – far short of the 145,000 affordable homes the country needs annually.
Ms Henderson added: “If the government wants to make a difference it needs to invest serious amounts of money over the long term in social housing. This is the only way housing associations can build significantly more homes.”
