Time for Action on Affordable Housing not Words

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 5th Oct 2007

Commenting on today's Hometrack report showing that up to 50% of young working households are priced out of the housing market in some areas, Liberal Democrat Shadow Housing minister, Paul Holmes MP said:

"An entire generation of first time buyers have seen themselves priced out of the market with 1.6 million families languishing on council house waiting lists.

"If Ministers are serious about tackling the housing shortage, they must stop talking about the problem and lay the groundwork for the solutions.

"Ministers must hand over surplus public sector land to community land trusts in order to meet the increasing demand for affordable homes.

"Ministers should also support shared equity schemes that can provide affordable homes that remain affordable when sold on.

"Even if the Government has finally woken up to the disastrous housing crisis that it has presided over, it still remains oblivious to the simple solutions that could alleviate the problem."