IT IS AN inescapable fact that living in a city, including Brighton and Hove, brings with it a number of problems, but undoubtedly the most pressing is the lack of available housing.

Sadly, that is true both for those hoping to get on the housing ladder and those having to rent.

For young professionals hoping to buy a first home the chances of doing so are at best remote unless you have managed to accumulate a large deposit or have parents wealthy enough to be able to help out and that is not often the case in this day and age.

For those who think this is a problem only the younger generation face, well think again.

Spiralling divorce rates means there are many “singletons” in their fifties and sixties who, once costs have been settled and assets divided, barely have pennies left to rub together. The chances of them getting back on the housing ladder are equally remote.

Therefore, unless you are a council tenant there is little option other than renting a property, which is invariably from a private landlord.

Unless you are extremely fortunate, these do not come cheap and demand invariably outstrips supply.

It is all very well for the Government to talk about “affordable housing” and “right to buy schemes” but the fact of the matter is that we are already facing a crisis which is only going to be dealt with when significantly more houses and flats are built.

Blaming developers for the lack of affordable housing, private landlords for rising rents and cash-strapped local authorities for not building enough new council stock will not resolve a problem that is already way out of hand.