Grim sound of home truths

The region remains just as popular as ever, but it has become far harder for people, whether from God's own county or beyond, to settle here. That sad state of affairs is the consequence of rocketing property prices and the failure of successive governments to build homes where they are needed.

That is why, as the Yorkshire Post reveals today, we face serious problems in the provision of affordable housing. The soaring sums needed to secure a mortgage in this region, particularly in North Yorkshire, risk pricing a new generation out of the market. This must be avoided or certain areas will become the preserve of the affluent few.

The reasons for this go back several generations. In the years after the Second World War, Labour's Homes for Heroes brought modest comfort to hundreds of thousands of families in austerity Britain. That momentum was lost as the inaction of governments of varying stripes stored up problems for the future.

Today, however, a cocktail of banking excess, Whitehall over-spending and the hit-and-miss success of the buy-to-let culture has left Britain lacking both houses and the money to pay for them. It is an appalling state of affairs.

If, as the National Housing Federation suggests, the coalition is refusing to provide cash to help fund regeneration or housebuilding programmes, then Britain faces a bleak future. Simply turning off the tap is not a credible way of handling the problem, despite the undoubted restraints under which Ministers must work.

Instead, the coalition will have to review the country's entire housing stock. It is absurd that in Yorkshire there are empty and boarded-up properties which stand little chance

of ever being occupied again, at the same time

as young families are struggling to get a foot on the housing ladder.

It may cause consternation in the Treasury, but there are few options other than to build more affordable homes. In turn, that investment would boost the local economy. The alternative, of an increase in repossessions and a downward spiral of poverty, would simply mark a continuation of the failed policies that have brought us to the brink of crisis today.