350,000 London families trapped on housing waiting lists’
MORE than a third of a million families in London are trapped on housing waiting lists, housing campaigners claimed today. The shock increase has been blamed on the number of low-cost homes being built in London declining sharply, with little more than 3,000 being started in the last three months
By Mike Brooke
MORE than a-third-of-a-million families in London are trapped on housing waiting lists, housing campaigners claimed today.
The shock increase has been blamed on the sharp decline in low-cost homes being built in London, with little more than 3,000 started in the last three months.
That’s a drop of 40 per cent compared to the same period last year, the national homeless charity Shelter points out.
Figures for communities and local government house-building released today show the Government is falling behind in meeting its target of three million new homes by 2020.
HOUSING DECLINE
Shelter’s chief executive Adam Sampson said at the charity’s Whitechapel HQ in East London: “The Government is still not doing anywhere near enough to kickstart the flagging house-building industry to get Britain building again.
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“Stating new house-building schemes has severely declined at a time when more and more people in London are in desperate need of a decent home.”
The number of families trapped on housing waiting lists has jumped to 353,000 in London alone, he points out.
“There can be no question that there is urgent need to build more homes,” he added. “The lives of people who need homes are being devastated.”
Shelter is calling for the Government to make a major investment in social housing before the consequences of the failure to build are “too great to ever recover from.”
