Over three hundred thousand people in England alone are homeless. This is the worst part of the housing crisis, but the problem extends well beyond that.
There was a report recently about a woman who earns £50,000 a year and cannot buy a house; rent and bills take two-thirds of her income. It has been claimed that only one in eight renters can afford to buy where they live. Not even a half of those earning over £70,000 (twice the average wage) could afford to buy in their local area.
The house-building industry under capitalism exists to make a profit, not to meet human need, which would be the aim of housing in a Socialist society.