Housing Minister Brandon Lewis says the government are aiming to build one million new homes by 2020.

A BBC ‘Inside Out’ investigation has revealed figures from the National Housing Federation showing that between 2011 and 2014, it was estimated that 974,000 homes were needed but only 457,490 were built.

The National Housing Federation said that just under a quarter of a million homes were required each year in England, with Mr Lewis saying that meeting this figure by the end of the current parliament would constitute a “success” for the government.

Figures released earlier month by the Office of National Statistics showed that in the year-on-year numbers housing construction fell 2.5%.

The Government has previously pledged to deliver 200,000 starter homes for first-time buyers and 275,000 affordable homes during by 2020.

Gill Payne, Director of Policy and External Affairs, said: “Skyrocketing rents and ballooning house prices are eating up more and more of people’s wages and forcing people out of their local communities or into smaller, lower quality housing.

“We haven’t built enough homes in this country for decades, and if the gap between the number of households forming and the number of new homes being built continues to grow, we are in danger of not being able to house our children.”

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