'Rapidly escalating housing crisis in South West' » Housing » 24dash.com

Political and public support for a major housebuilding programme is urgently needed to alleviate the South West's housing crisis.

The call comes from the National Housing Federation, which today released a report showing that the lack of affordable homes in the region is resulting in a rapidly escalating housing crisis.

One in every 15 families in the region is now on a waiting list for social housing and the numbers are rising faster than anywhere else in the country.

South West Home Truths: The real cost of housing 2007 - 2012 includes Oxford Economic house price forecasts for the next five years.

The figures show that affordability is going to worsen drastically as house prices across the region are set to increase by a further 44% to an average of £316,000 by 2012.

Average house prices across the South West are now nearly 12 times average incomes, making the region one of the most unaffordable areas in the UK to buy a home.

The South West is the only region in the country to suffer from higher house prices but lower incomes than the national average.

The crisis is made worse by the continued growth of holiday homes - the region has the highest proportion of second homes in the UK.

The Federation, which represents nearly 200 housing associations operating in the South West, say there is now a desperate need for more housing investment and better availability of land for development.

Derek Cash, Head of South Region, said: "The South West is experiencing a rapidly escalating housing crisis. In 17 different local authorities housing waiting lists have more than doubled in the last five years. In some areas, such as Torbay, the increase is as much as 370%.

"We are heartened by the Government's Housing Green Paper and promise of additional funding for affordable housing," said Mr Cash.

"But political support for housebuilding campaigns is required at national, regional and local levels in order to deliver the homes the South West so desperately needs.

"Our report shows we are only building around 70% of the homes we need every year and only half of the social homes required. There is now a major backlog of demand from families across the region."

"Local communities should also support planning applications for affordable new housing schemes in their locality. This is the only way we are going to create sufficient housing to tackle the huge shortage," added Mr Cash.

He added that politicians of all parties saw this issue as a major priority but it was now time for them all to "turn their words into real action".

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