The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has blamed a dearth of decent social housing on the predicaments facing the market, with over 100,000 fewer houses being completed in 2002, than the yearly average during the 1970s.
Louis Armstrong, chief executive of RICS said: ‘A housing underclass is being created and its numbers are swelling to include people who traditionally would have been able to purchase their own home. House prices in the UK have doubled since 1995 and this means that large numbers of people, particularly in the high value areas have little hope of accessing decent housing.’
In comparison to other European countries, RICS said the UK was providing 10% fewer affordable homes than Germany, Italy and France.
Gavin McGuire, spokesman at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said: ‘In terms of social and affordable housing we recognise that in the rural areas there is a problem. However we think that the community plan which was announced last February and the other strategies such as Thames Gateway will help to overcome this problem.’
