New prime minister must face up to affordability crisis

The new prime minister's first task should be to deal with the escalating affordability crisis in housing, many housing professionals believe.

In a clear message to the incoming prime minister, almost half of the 50 senior housing figures surveyed by Inside Housing this week singled out the need to increase affordable housing as the most pressing issue.

Whoever succeeds Tony Blair when he steps down sometime this year would be confronted by a country with too few homes to meet the needs of its residents, they said.

Simon Dow, chief executive of Guinness Trust, said the government must increase the supply of land for housing. ‘You can't resolve the affordability problems in the country without it,' he said. ‘The whole housing problem in the last 20 years has been the increase in the number of households compared in effect to a reduction in affordable housing.'

A detailed investigation of Tony Blair's legacy in this week's Inside Housing reveals that his successor will face a number of problems. It found that 60 per cent more people are waiting for council houses now than in 1997 – despite a large increase in investment in affordable housing.

Housing professionals also warned that social housing must be given a more positive image.

Colin Wiles, chief executive of King Street Housing Society, said: ‘I think 20 years from now we will realise that council housing was actually quite a good thing with locally owned housing with local accountability and sustainable forms of management.

‘The market is out of balance and we are condemning millions of younger people to a miserable future,' he added.

Bernard Gallagher, chief executive of Regenda Group, said more housing was  desperately needed. ‘The market has been allowed to let rip,' he said. ‘I think the overall failure [at the moment] is by not putting enough money into affordable housing you get the present situation where people have to borrow six times their income and take out interest-only mortgages.'

Sarah Webb, deputy chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said she wanted the new leader to recognise the fundamental importance of a good, affordable home. This would not just benefit individuals but contribute to the economic success of the country, she added.