UNISON, the UK's leading public sector trade union, is calling for a million affordable homes to be built in the lifetime of the next parliament, to help house the million plus families who are on social housing waiting lists.

The call comes as UNISON launched research, at the House of Commons on Wednesday, showing that councils are well placed to be providers of affordable, eco-friendly homes that meet local needs and boost local economies.

The report, written by the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE), reflects on the lack of new council house building, and shines a light on the changes needed to make council house building a reality in the current economic climate.

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The report welcomes recent government funding for new building programmes, but finds that the future for publicly provided council housing is still uncertain.

As an important step in the right direction, the union is calling on the government to place a duty on local authorities to start a public building programme for a new generation of council houses.

If remaining legal, technical and financial barriers are brought down, says the union, longer term building programmes could shoot up.

Speaking at the launch, Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, said: "Housing is one of the key components of our Million Voices for public services campaign. Decent homes are a pre-requisite for decent health, decent education and a decent quality of life.

"One of the reasons we have record waiting lists is because there are now one million fewer homes for social rent than there were in 1979. The private sector is not building homes, so there has to be a clear duty on the public sector to step in."

(CD/BMcC)