BBC reports today of a spike in the number of people waiting to access affordable  housing contain make for grim reading.

According to reports, more than 11,000 people joined council housing waiting lists in England between July to September last year. This is a rise of 12% on the previous quarter. The report cites economic slowdown, the effect of the ‘right to buy’ policy on supply and a decline in housebuilding numbers as causes.

I think there is another under-acknowledged factor that transcends politics: social housing is not a top priority in this country.

You only have to look at the lack of media coverage of the issue today to realise this. A Google News search of ‘housing waiting lists’ only returned detailed coverage of this on the BBC. It is not on the Local Government Association‘s website, who I assumed were the source of the story. This is mystifying.

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