Backing for 500,000 new homes
As the debate over house-building intensifies, National Housing Federation chief executive Jim Coulter tells BBC News Online why he welcomes Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's proposals for building more affordable housing .
The country is in the grip of a housing crisis so severe that doing nothing is no longer an option.
Yes, we need to build more homes. But more importantly we need to build communities that are socially and environmentally sustainable.
More and more people are being forced to live in poor and overcrowded accommodation with ill-effects to their health, their children's education and the local economy.
'Acute need'
While there is widespread need across southern and northern England, the crisis is particularly acute in the east, where prices rose by 73% between 1999 and 2003.
Access to decent housing should not be restricted to the highest earners, but with a runaway housing market, that is what is happening.
The National Housing Federation believes all members of the community have a right to live in a decent home.
This means building more affordable housing for households on low and moderate incomes, first time buyers, families with children, young professionals and older people.
People already fortunate to have their own home must think of where their sons and daughters will be able to live.
Meeting this housing demand does not have to mean concreting over the countryside or building miles of new roads.
It means local and national government, housing associations and planners working in partnership with local people, to develop housing solutions for the benefit of the whole community.
BBC News, 15th October 2004
