The last few weeks have seen a sudden shift in media attention from house prices to housing shortage.  Hallelujah!

For months now I have been warning that Britain is rushing headfirst into a real housing crisis and, recently, I’ve noticed several others getting more vocal on the issue – not least the Home Builders Federation (HBF).

However, when the subject starts being talked about at Number 10, you know you’re getting somewhere.  Yes – David Cameron told MPs earlier this month: “House building is too low in this country, and as we all know, the typical first-time buyer is now in their mid-30s. So we need change – we need more houses to be built.”

About time too!  For reasons out of our control, the housebuilding industry isn’t able to deliver the number of homes required to house our growing population and unless the Government takes action, they will leave behind them an appalling legacy.

However, the housing crisis is right in front of their nose right now.  According to a major study, the results of which were published a couple of week s ago, housing conditions in Britain are among the worst in Europe and cost the nation about £7bn a year by adding to the pressures on the NHS and other public services.

Almost 4,000 people are now sleeping rough on London’s streets – an increase of eight percent since last year.  The number of families on housing waiting lists in London doubled to 362,000 between 1997 and 2010 – and this accounts for just 20% of the waiting list nationally.

In the capital alone, there is expected to be an increase of between 30,000 and 34,000 households every year for the next 25 years, a large proportion of which will be single-person households.

Dr Stephen Battersby, president of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (which brought the housing groups together for this report) said of its findings; “The lack of a coherent housing policy for the past 30 years has created an expensive housing market with a shortage of affordable housing.”

There is more to the crisis than just that, but there does need to be an action plan put in place – and sooner rather than later.

The blueprint recommendations of the report were to tackle the housing shortage by the provision of 500,000 green and affordable houses and flats over the next seven years, including bringing empty houses back into use – much like what we have done recently with Infusion our development in Moss Side.

In my view, this will be a good start but unless the Government persuades the banks to increase mortgage supply, they will be fighting a losing battle.

I am hoping that Cameron’s comments were more than just rhetoric on this critical issue but only time will tell and time, I am afraid, is not on the PM’s side with this one.

By Sue Warwick, National Sales and Marketing Director