As property prices soar in UK, those on average incomes are excluded, including hundreds of thousands of vital public sector workers. Housing for key workers is fast becoming a major problem. Those on average incomes are excluded, including hundreds of thousands of public sector workers vital to the well being of the country. The cause of the problem is simple: in a country obsessed with property owning, house prices have been increasing sharply for decades, while earnings - particularly in the public sector - have risen modestly at best. At the same time, the number of homes set aside for social housing is decreasing. Although around 25,000 new homes for rent are being built by housing associations each year, about 50,000 council homes are lost each year to the right to buy policy. This means that the dwindling supply of affordable housing has become increasingly rationed for the most needy. For example more than 70% of new social housing tenants claim housing benefit. Teachers, nurses, social workers, policeman and other essential staff - collectively known as key workers - earn too much to qualify for social housing. But most earn too little to afford to buy a home by themselves in an increasing number of property hotspots nationwide. Someone on an annual salary of £20,000 could get a mortgage of £80,000 at a push but the average house price is now well over £100,000 and climbing. In an increasing number of areas, average house prices are more than £200,000. Key workers are therefore faced with a number of undesirable options, they can: rent privately at unsustainable levels; share housing; commute long distances to work; or choose a more lucrative profession. There is growing evidence that housing problems are a major factor in the recruitment crisis in both education and the health service. For example, the areas where teacher shortages are most acute correlate strongly with the areas where house prices are highest. The issue has helped campaigners get housing back on the political agenda. They point out that government plans for education and health will be undermined by more staff shortages without increased investment in affordable housing. The government's response has been to launch the £250m starter home initiative, which will help house 10,000 key workers over the next three years. Most of those helped will get so-called shared ownership homes provided by housing associations, an idea that works out at about three-quarters of the cost of buying a home outright. Under such schemes, key workers typically pay a subsidised rent to the housing association for half of the home and a mortgage on the other half. Campaigners have dismissed the starter homes initiative as a "drop in the ocean" and pointed out that more than 40,000 people apply for shared ownership schemes each year in London alone. The government is now turning to the planning system to ensure that more affordable housing is provided on new private developments. This could also help but is unlikely to solve the crisis. Accommodation problems for key workers in the south-east are therefore likely to get worse unless, or until, the property market goes into decline. | 
