£11.6bn urged 'to end homes crisis'

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In a speech at the CIH's annual conference in Harrogate, president Paul Diggory urged the Government to commit to building 210,000 new affordable homes over the next three years, with priority given to first-time buyers and key workers.

The organisation estimates that 1.6 million people are now on a waiting list for an affordable home and more than 100,000 people are living in temporary accommodation.

The Government's own National Housing and Planning Advice Unit has said that one-third of non-homeowners think they will never be able to buy their own home.

It has also predicted that house prices will grow to 10 times annual earnings by 2026.

Mr Diggory urged the Government to formulate a housing policy that recognises that some people do not want or cannot afford to buy.

He referred to a recent CIH member survey in which 83% of respondents said they thought there was too much emphasis on home ownership at the expense of renting.

Late last year CIH, in partnership with the Local Government Association, the National Federation of arm's-length management organisations (ALMOs), the National Housing Federation and Shelter made a submission to the Comprehensive Spending Review urging the Government to build 70,000 new affordable homes a year for the next three years.

"All the key housing organisations in the country have joined forces to argue for public money to build more affordable homes to rent and own - and to improve the existing housing stock," Mr Diggory said.

"Stephen Timms and Gordon Brown have both made encouraging statements about the importance of affordable housing over recent weeks but, in the face of other competing Spending Review priorities, we can't afford to be complacent."