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Build three million new social homes is the key to solving the housing crisis says a landmark report.

Homeless charity Shelter is calling for the government to invest in a 20-year housebuilding programme, which would offer a social home to millions who fail to qualify under the current system.

Under the Tories housebuilding in England has fallen to its lowest level since the Second World War of around 130,000 per year.

It falls woefully short of the government’s 300,000 a year target.

Meanwhile almost 280,000 people in England are homeless, half of young people have no chance of ever buying a home and private renters on lower incomes spend an average of 67% of their earnings on rent.

(Image: PA)

A report by a commission set up by Shelter calls for 1.27 million homes for those in greatest housing need – homeless households, those living with a disability or long-term illness, or living in very poor conditions.

There would also need to be 1.17 million homes for ‘trapped renters’ - younger families who cannot afford to buy and face a lifetime in expensive and insecure private renting and 690,000 homes for older private renters – people over 55 struggling with high housing costs and insecurity beyond retirement.

The independent commission brought together 16 independent commissioners from across the political spectrum.

Lord Jim O’Neill, who joined Ed Miliband MP, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, TV architect George Clarke and Grenfell survivor Ed Daffarn, said social housing should be seen as a “national asset like any other infrastructure”.

(Image: PA)

He said: “With current spending on housing benefit shockingly inefficient, it’s not hard to see what an investment in bricks and mortar could do to help solve the housing crisis and boost our economy.”

“A home is the foundation of individual success in life, and public housebuilding can be the foundation of national success. It is the only hope the government has of hitting its 300,000 homes a year target.

“The government’s budget for capital expenditure is £62 billion a year - our housebuilding programme would cost only a fraction and is well within its financial reach.”

Labour have described the report by leading homelessness charity Shelter as a “wake up call” for the government.

(Image: Getty)

They say they would build one million “genuinely affordable” homes over ten years which they insist are consistent with the recommendations in the report.

John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary, said: “This important report should be a wake-up call for Conservative Ministers.

“It confirms that investment in new social homes has fallen dramatically since 2010 and that the Conservative re-definition of ‘affordable housing’ is a sham.

“Housing will be at the heart of the next Labour government’s plans to rebuild Britain, with a million new genuinely low-cost homes in the first ten years alone.”

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said a further £2bn had been committed as part of a 10-year home building programme through to 2028.

"Councils have been given extra freedom to build the social homes their communities need and expect," a government spokesman added.