Younger earners in their 20s and 30s find it harder to set foot on the home ownership ladder in the South West than any other English region, according to new research.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation sought the views of the ePolitix.com Forum on whether more could be done to convince residents in the least affordable housing areas that building more homes is in their long-term interest and does not mean "concreting over the South".

A spokeswoman for the ODPM told ePolitix.com: "We are acutely aware of the difficulties facing key workers and others on modest incomes who want to buy a home in London and the South East.

"Over the three years to March 2006 we are investing £5 billion in more affordable housing.

"We expect £1 billion of this to be invested in key worker housing. The vast majority of key worker funding will go to London and the wider SE.

"Steve Wilcox's study supports our policy to direct bulk of the funding available for key worker housing to London and the wider SE. Study indicates that affordability issues most acute for key workers in London and SE.

"The government's £250 million Starter Home Initiative aims to help 10,000 key workers to buy homes in areas where the high cost of housing is undermining recruitment and retention. £146m (58 per cent) of the SHI budget has been allocated to help 4600 key workers in London, with £78 million (31 per cent) allocated to help 3700 key workers in the South East.

"And 2800 key workers have been helped to date under the Starter Home Initiative: 1500 in London; 1000 in the SE; 170 in Eastern Region; and 130 in SW region.

"In addition, the Housing Corporation's £300 million Challenge Fund is providing around 8000 new affordable homes in London and the wider SE. Around half of these will be for key public sector workers. All schemes are planned to start on site in 2003/04.

Some 1400 of the units being provided through the Challenge Fund will be on sites owned by English Partnerships (EP).

"EP and the Housing Corporation have set up a new joint unit, The Housing Partnership, to identify where affordable housing (including key housing) can be delivered rapidly in growth areas and other areas of high demand. EP have identified a number of sites in its ownership in the South East suitable for key workers and affordable housing. The development of these is being taken forward in partnership with the Housing Corporation and Registered Social Landlords."

"Funding for key worker housing from 2004/05 will be integrated with the Housing Corporation's main affordable housing programme. The Housing Corporation expects to invite bids for key worker housing schemes at the same time as bids for other affordable housing schemes, in the Autumn 2003.

"There will be more emphasis on increasing supply via new build for rent and home ownership and on the link between key worker housing assistance and recruitment and retention. From 2004/05, assistance will be supplemented by contributions from employers and/or sponsor departments.

"Department of Health and the NHS have prioritised the provision of affordable staff accommodation. In partnership with housing providers, they aim to provide 2000 additional units of accommodation for nurses in London by July 2003. Further units are being provided in the SE and other housing hot spots.

"But steps to help key workers into affordable housing are inextricably linked to what government is doing to increase the supply of affordable housing overall.

"In 2003/04 £752 million of the £1.2 billion funding for the Housing Corporation's affordable housing programme (excluding Challenge Fund and SHI) will go directly to projects in London and the wider SE.

"The new Regional Housing Boards will advise ministers on the allocation of funding to meet the priorities identified in their Regional Housing Strategies, including the need for key worker housing.

"We expect all local authorities to develop housing strategies that address the identified need for affordable housing.

"We also expect local authorities to make effective use of their powers under the planning system to secure an element of affordable housing. We are updating guidance on planning for affordable housing. Our aim is to consult in the Summer 2003.

"The Home Ownership Task Force, launched on 18 March will consider schemes currently available to potential homeowners on low or modest incomes and identify the most effective ways of supporting home ownership. The Task Force is expected to report in the Autumn 2003.

"The study found that affordability issues most acute in London and the South East for key workers. Supports our policy to direct key worker funding to London and the wider SE. That is why our limited resources are focused in this way.

"Housing resources provided to regions outside London and the South East will increase in line with inflation over the next three years. Regional Housing Boards will have the opportunity to recommend how they wish to prioritise housing investment, including for key workers."

Forum Response: Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Lord Best, director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: "This analysis adds a new dimension to the warning we issued a year ago about the shortage of affordable homes across the South and the dire long-term consequences if it is allowed to get worse.

"If existing home owners living in those districts want local hospitals, care homes, schools and police stations to be properly staffed, they can no longer ignore the case for more housing. In the same way, families in these areas will recognise that children, once they become adults, may be forced to move away by housing shortages and unaffordable prices - or else depend heavily on funds from their parents."

Forum Response: Country Land and Business Association

Oliver Harwood, head of rural economy at the CLA, told ePolitix.com: "The CLA currently has a housing working party looking at policy and has not yet formulated the whole answer, however, at this stage our preliminary views are as follows.

"In rural areas, communities need to assess their own interests in a wider and holistic way. Where the unvoiced are assisted in this process by suitably qualified interlocutors, Village Design Statements can provide the answer.

"In peri-urban areas, where the greatest opportunities exist, affordable housing needs to bring attendant and demonstrable benefits to existing communities. Release of land for mixed use development can secure both high quality housing and environment. Communities need to be assured of the benefits, rather than simply be faced with what they see as costs.

"National and local bodies have a duty to remind the wider public that the actual area of concrete is some 13 per cent of England and that the increases envisaged in the government's plans will increase this by only one per cent or thereabouts."

Forum Response: Construction Products Association

Allan Wilen, economics director at the Construction Products Association, told ePolitix.com: "The quality of public services is suffering because the shortage of affordable homes is hindering recruitment of teachers, nurses and other key workers. London and the South East have the highest house prices in the country but among the worst schools, hospitals and other public services. More affordable housing is desperately needed to bring a better balance to our communities.

"Shortages of housing in the South have a further unwelcome demographic effect. Children leaving home can no longer afford to live in the area where they have grown up, forcing them to move into other areas away from their families.

"Fears of the South being turned into some sort of amorphous housing development are absolutely unfounded. The government's Communities Plan clearly defines specific growth areas - largely on brown field derelict sites which will help regenerate local areas. The Plan envisages 250,000 extra homes over the next 15 years in London and the South East, adding only around 3 per cent to the existing stock."

Forum Response: Countryside Alliance

Richard Burge, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, told ePolitix.com: "Rural people understand that there has to be development in the countryside - it would be a fallacy to see urban areas develop while rural areas stood still, so in this we agree that new-build is a fact of life, especially in the South East.

"It is not the rural community that needs to be convinced, but incomers who move to what they think is a 'rural idyll' and resist any kind of development.

"The countryside must adapt and embrace change if it is to be a sustainable, vibrant contributor to the wealth and prosperity of Britain - while we do not want to live in a concrete jungle we want investment and we are keen to move with the times."

Forum Response: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

A spokesman for RICS told ePolitix.com: "The current supply of affordable housing (and housing in general) is inadequate. In London and the South East an acceleration in house building is essential if housing supply is to keep pace with household growth.

"However the government should avoid building massive, sprawling estates that fall rapidly into disrepair and consume unnecessarily large swathes of land.

"RICS believes that it is in the long-term interests of residents in areas with the least affordable housing to concentrate on building smaller, higher density developments. Residents will then be able to play their part in creating sustainable local communities and ultimately the increased housing provision may help alleviate the problems associated with rising house prices in these areas."

Forum Response: British Property Federation

Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, told ePolitix.com: "This is a hugely interesting problem. There just are not the houses being built and I don't know why.

"There are some people who will swear blind that is because housebuilders are sitting on large land banks in order to control supply.

"But there are others who blame the planning system and it is made worse by Ken Livingstone's demand that 50 per cent of new developments should be reserved for affordable housing. This makes a new development commercially unviable and local authorities don't understand that fact.

"I would like to see more house building on brownfield land. There is also a lot of public sector land which is not made available as quickly as it should and I think the government should let some of this go at less than the market rate.

"If the government wants progress, there will have to be streamlining of the process and Urban Development Corporations may be one way of achieving this.

"I really don't think there is any need to 'concrete over the South'."