Britain’s chronic housing shortage is now the second most important issue to the public
A new survey has found 31% of Brits consider the country's spiralling housing prices as one of their top three public concerns, beaten only by how much money is spent on the NHS
SPIRALLING house prices are now Brits’ second most important issue - as it emerges most new homes will remain too expensive for the majority unless ministers step in.
A survey by Kantar Public Opinion Monitor today reveals Britain’s chronic housing crisis has rocketed up the table of public concerns over the last year.
Almost a third - 31% - now rank affordable housing as one of their top three priorities.
Only the amount of money spent on the NHS scores higher, with tackling crime in third place and controlling immigration fourth.
New analysis by housing charity Shelter also today reveals only a fraction of cheap homes needed every year have ever been built without major government intervention since World War Two.
Just 23% of the 184,000 new homes built last year - 41,500 - were affordable homes or for social use, because builders make more money on more expensive plots.
Only by tripling that number will the government meet its target of 300,000 new homes a year, the charity found.
But the last time more than 300,000 new homes were erected annually was between 1964-69, after a massive council house building program first ordered by Tory PM Harold MacMillan.
Shelter chief executive Polly Neate said: “Given the scale of the housing crisis and sheer number of lives blighted by it, the public are calling for real action.
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“Regardless of age, where they live, or who they vote for - the message is clear, buying is unaffordable and private renting is not fit for purpose in the long-term.
“People want and need an alternative.”