All this underlines Britain’s need for a massive building programme. Some 134,000 households, comprising 350,000 people, are in temporary accommodation; 1.3 million households languish on housing waiting lists. The housing benefit bill has rocketed to more than £36 billion. Around 400,000 houses were being built annually in the 1960s heyday of council house building, in contrast to just over 12,000 in 2025