At the National Housing Federation's (NHF) Annual Conference, the organisation's Chief Executive David Orr said the Government must "make a break with the past" and start investing in "genuinely affordable homes".
In its report, the NHF reveals the nation's commitment to building homes has fallen from £11.4 billion in 2009 to £5.3bn in 2015; from 0.7% to 0.2% of the total GDP.
With more than one million families still on the housing waiting list and spending on housing benefit rising from £16.6bn to £25.1bn over the last 20 years, Mr Orr called on the Government to let housing associations use £1.1bn that remains unspent on Starter Homes to build 20,000 new 'affordable' homes across the country.
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"It is absurd that we're spending less on building social housing than we did in the nineties – there are even more people today on housing waiting lists than then despite increasingly stringent criteria," he said.
"We know we need more, better quality social housing. And yet, rather than putting public money into building the homes we need, we are propping up rents in a failing market. Ultimately, this is poor value for the taxpayer and has a knock-on effect on everyone struggling to rent or buy.
"The Prime Minister is right that we've not paid social housing enough attention. After the tragic fire at Grenfell, this crisis can no longer be ignored. The Government must be bold and make a break with the past by making money available to build genuinely affordable homes.
"There's more than a billion pounds that remains unspent on Starter Homes. Let's put this money to use and let housing associations build 20,000 of the genuinely affordable homes the nation needs."
(LM)
