A radical new approach and greater government leadership are needed to tackle the present housing crisis, according to University of Ulster Professor of Housing and current President of the Chartered Institute of Housing, Professor Paddy Gray.

Addressing the CIH Presidential Dinner in London, Professor Gray - who flagged up the current housing crises in advance of the property development slump in 2008 - said he simply could not understand how, in the 21st century and in an advanced western democracy, there is not enough affordable housing for people in need.

Professor Gray (pictured) commented: "Across the UK, millions of people are on housing waiting lists or housed in temporary, overcrowded or unfit properties, yet there are nearly a million houses lying empty."

The draft budget currently being debated by MLAs at Stormont signals a 30% reduction in the Northern Ireland social housing budget over the next four years.

This proposed cut will lead to a significant reduction in the number of new houses being built, Professor Gray explained: "In reality that means that around 1,000 homes will be built each year from 2011 to 2015 and that is despite the NI Housing Executive estimating that we need 2,500 new homes per year which will create a shortfall of around 6,000 dwellings.

"Waiting lists for social housing are already high in Northern Ireland with around 40,000 households requiring social housing in the current economic climate when many households cannot buy property in the private sector due to restrictions on the availability of mortgages.

"We need to look at the role of the tax system and its interface with housing as an asset class; we need action to make land more easily available for affordable and market homes; we need to realign our government accounting rules so we can use billions of pounds of existing assets to lever in even more private finance; we need to tackle abandoned communities and unemployment; we need to stop wasting precious NHS resources as a result of unhealthy and unsafe homes; we need to balance FSA regulatory protection with the need for an affordable mortgage market; we need to provide a wider range of sub-market rents and fixed-term lets as part of a progressive and forward looking approach to meeting a wide range of housing need, not just as a tool to build more housing," he said.

(JG)