Housing crisis ‘tragedy for families’

OLDHAM faces a “housing timebomb” with builders failing to keep up with local demand.

Last year around 400 houses were planned but only 230 were built.

The National Housing Federation says the shortage is putting the cost of renting privately or owning a home out of reach for scores of families.

House prices have risen 3.5 times faster than earnings in the past decade across the North-West.

As a result social housing waiting lists have grown faster in the region than any other area of the country and private-sector rents are expected to rise by 46 per cent during the next decade, the report claims.

The NHF is urging the Government to hand over publicly-owned but disused brownfield sites to allow housing associations to build more homes.

Land the size of more than six football pitches in Oldham has been identified by the NHF, which they say could be used to build enough homes to house 421 people.