Shelter said that housing was facing some of the biggest cuts through the Spending Review, yet the Chancellor had said nothing on tackling high house prices or improving the private rented sector.

Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, highlighted that just 150,000 affordable homes are to be built over four years -less than a third of what the country needs.

He accused the Coalition government of joining previous ruling parties in “denying responsibility for an entire generation’s ability to access decent, secure, affordable housing”.

Robb said he welcomed the help being offered to the homeless and those facing repossession, but warned that the measures do not address the needs of millions of other people struggling to find and keep a decent, affordable home.

He said: “The combined worry of cuts to housing benefit and the slashing of the affordable house building subsidy, coupled with the absence of a long-term strategy, will be devastating for the housing aspirations of thousands of young people.

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“They are consigned to increasing costs and bringing up their future families in an insecure private rented sector. The Chancellor acknowledged this generational shift in housing aspiration for under-35s in his speech.”

Robb added: “Despite the range of housing policies announced we have heard nothing on some of the most fundamental issues, such as tackling this country’s exorbitant house prices or improving our ever growing private rented sector.

“The government must urgently set out its long-term vision to solve our entire housing crisis or accept responsibility for the impact these policies will have on entire generations for years to come.”