For most of this century, the UK has had a housing shortage, but for one section of society, that shortage has become a crisis.

Prices have risen so much that people who need social housing are completely locked out of the private renting market, and owning a home for many is only a pipe dream. And when politicians speak about "affordable homes", these are also out of reach for many people. "Affordable" means homes available at 80% of the market rate. Typical social housing rents are much lower- around 30% of the full rate.

And this type of home is in very short supply. In 1980, there were around seven million dwellings in the social rent sector, largely owned by councils. Today that's just over four million, the majority of which are owned by housing associations instead.

To the average person, the answer seems simple - just build more homes.

And that’s being done, but not enough are being built - only around 10,000 social homes are constructed each year - far lower than the estimated 90,000 we need every year. So how can we speed up the process to help the million households in England currently sat on council waiting lists?

Presenter: Ben Ansell

Contributors:

Rethink is a BBC co-production with the Open University