40,000 waiting for a home in the county (From The Argus)

40,000 waiting for a home in the county

4:00pm Saturday 4th February 2012 in News

More than 40,000 people are languishing on housing waiting lists in Sussex.

In Brighton and Hove alone more than 12,400 are on the housing register but just 61 new affordable homes were built in the city last year.

The Home Builders Federation (HBF) say that just one in 20 of the houses needed for local families is being built after house building in the city plummeted by 91% over the past five years.

However the council said that of the 12,400, 1,254 are in high or medium need for housing.

The rest are people housed but in need of an extra bed room, of low medical need or people in the private sector in homes that are in a poor condition.

The Government has released millions of pounds to local authorities in Sussex to end the region’s “affordable housing crisis”.

Across West Sussex, waiting lists topped 19,000, according to the National Housing Federation, and more than 10,000 people are waiting in East Sussex.