CLEARING social housing lists “would take 119 years” at the current building rate, new research found on Sunday.

Shelter chief executive Sarah Elliott warned “none of us alive today will live to see the end of the housing emergency” if the government continues to deliver homes at the current “snail’s pace.”

The housing charity’s findings put the number of households on a waiting list for a social home at more than 1.3 million, but that only 12,198 were built by councils, housing associations or private developers last year in England.

The number of new social rent homes built annually decreased by 64 per cent in the last 15 years, they said, as the number of households in temporary accommodation has increased by 155 per cent.

Shelter’s study found that not a single social home was built in the last two years in 20 per cent of council areas across England.

And fewer than 10 were built in 30 per cent of council areas.

Ms Elliott said: “Unless the scarcity of new social homes is addressed, communities will continue to be ripped apart, and children will be trapped in homelessness for generations to come.

“While the number of new social homes has fallen off a cliff, homelessness has climbed to record levels, with families worrying their wait for a safe and secure home will exceed their lifetime.”

Shelter added that in 1967 at the peak of social home delivery in England, almost half (46 per cent) of all new homes built in England were for social rent and councils provided almost all of those (97 per cent).

Generation Rent head of campaigns Nye Jones told the Morning Star: “Homes are the foundations of our lives. Creating more social homes is a vital part of making sure everyone has their own secure, affordable home. But, even with political will, this takes time. Meanwhile renters are facing back breaking costs just to keep a roof over our heads. With another inflation spike on the way, the government can and must act by bringing in a limit on how much landlords can hike the rent.”