THE government must spend £214 billion on building more than three million new homes to solve the social housing crisis, Shelter says today.

A report by the housing charity calls on ministers to invest in an “ambitious” 20-year housebuilding programme and extend the criteria for those who would be eligible to live in social housing.

It recommends building 1.27 million homes for “those in greatest housing need,” including the homeless, disabled people, those with long-term illnesses and people living in poor conditions.

The report also calls for 1.17 million homes for “trapped renters” – younger families unable to get on the housing ladder – and 690,000 homes for older private renters who face housing insecurity after retirement.

Among the report’s authors are former Labour leader Ed Miliband, ex-Tory chairwoman Baroness Warsi, Baroness Lawrence – the mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence – and Grenfell Tower fire survivor Ed Daffarn.

Mr Miliband said: “The time for the government to act is now. We have never felt so divided as a nation, but building social homes is a priority for people right across our country.”

Other suggestions in the report include creating an Ofsted-style consumer regulator to protect residents in social housing and private renting, a new national tenants’ voice organisation and improved national standards in maintaining publicly owned homes.

Defend Council Housing chair Eileen Short told the Star that the group broadly welcomes any added pressure on the government to make “serious investments” in building more council homes.

“This is the only real alternative to the broken housing market.

“More subsidies and warm words to developers and private landlords will not meet housing need. There are already a surplus of empty private homes for sale and rent – they are too expensive.”

Ms Short said campaigners, charities, trade unions and politicians need to unite in creating a “powerful coalition” to force the government to create more homeless shelters, cap rents and enforce security for private renters, re-regulate housing associations and invest in a new generation of 500,000 first-class council homes.

Labour’s shadow housing secretary John Healey said the report should be a “wake-up call” for the government and reiterated Labour’s pledge to build one million “genuinely low-cost” homes in its first decade in office.