YOUNG people trying to get on the housing ladder will know how difficult it is to juggle finances, come up with a deposit and find the money to pay the mortgage.

The solution, as many people see it, is more low-cost homes – properties owned by councils, housing associations or social landlords, offered at reduced rents to those on below-average incomes, or part ownership deals.

With significant growth in new housing developments over the past ten years, you’d think Southend Council would be well on its way to providing affordable homes to meet the needs of those on low incomes.

The reality is very different. In comparison with the number of luxury properties or homes for people on middle incomes, the number of affordable homes being built remains low.

Just 11 per cent of all new housing developments in 2007/8 were classed as affordable. In 2001/2, that figure was just 4 per cent.

Southend Council insists it is doing more than ever to help those on low incomes, including getting empty properties across the borough back into use and then run by housing associations.

However, Martin Terry, leader of Southend Council’s Independent group, said more action was needed.

He added: “We have a massive shortage of affordable family homes, but we have seen about 4,700 properties built, of which 98 per cent are one and two-bed flats. They are not family housing.

“As a consequence, many families are being housed in the private sector.”

Fellow councillor David Norman, who heads the council’s Labour group, said the number of people on the council’s housing waiting list proved more homes were urgently needed.

He added: “There are more than 5,000 people on the council waiting list for housing, and that has recently gone up by 30 per cent.

“The list is getting longer, and there are also the economic pressures such as the recession.

“Although house prices have fallen, a lot of people still can’t afford to get a foot on the ladder.

“We have a housing crisis in the town, and there are five million on waiting lists nationally.

“The list will continue to grow unless the council takes urgent action.”

Current estimates of the number of affordable homes needed in Southend by 2011 stand at between 257 and 344 a year, far above the present supply. By 2021, the council must plan and provide 3,347 new homes in total, and not all of those affordable.

Mark Flewitt, Southend councillor responsible for adult social care, health and housing, said he was aware of the “pressing problem”, and insisted work was being done to help those who need accommodation.

He added: “One of the things we have been doing for the past year is the empty homes scheme and, more importantly, we have been making sure if someone sees an empty property in the town, they are encouraged to report it. We encourage landlords to get their properties into a decent condition and offer them to our tenants to cut the numbers on the list.”

He admitted the council needed to build more homes, and said whichever party is in government after the next General Election would need to treat the availability of cheaper housing as a priority.

Mr Flewitt added: “If we don’t build somewhere, there be will be a crisis.

“We don’t have homelessness as a big issue. However, housing is a very big issue, as it is across the country, and the only way to address it is to back the right kind of development.”

He criticised other councillors for resisting some housing developments in the town when residents contact them to oppose the scheme.

He said: “I need every councillor to play their role in the housing crisis, because they say one thing to their residents and start campaigns, but then they come to the council chamber and say ‘look at this sorry state, look how we are missing our targets’ – and we are missing them.

“We need all kinds of housing to suit people at all times of their lives. Flats can be very good for people, if they are low-rise flats with easy access.

“It used to be build ‘em up, pile em high, which is universally known as a mistake.

“The housing issue will only be solved when we build more housing. But to support more housing we need better infrastructure.”