5m Expected To Join Social Housing List
As the credit crunch continues to impact upon a range of areas of the UK economy it seems that the demand for social housing is set to mushroom over the next five year. The Local Government Association believe that the current problems in the UK property market will see the social housing waiting list pushed up to 5 million causing a massive strain on local authority budgets.
While the above statement will seem staggering to many, the Council of Mortgage Lenders are forecasting that 45,000 properties will be repossessed in the UK in 2008. This figure is a sharp increase on 2007 but well below the highs experienced during the property crash in the 1990s.
There is some hope on the horizon with the Government committing themselves to building up to 70,000 affordable homes a year by 2011 with 45,000 social homes for rent. While this will take some of the pressure off the system, recent news that UK new house approvals and new house finishes have fallen does not bode well.
The UK is on the verge of housing crisis with more and more people likely to look to the state for assistance at a time when budgets are stretched and the national debt is moving higher.
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