A post from my Facebook mate Caroline Murphy about the housing problem in the UK . Really true. 

"The biggest scandal in my opinion, is the amount of unoccupied housing in the UK which cannot be accessed apparently by would-be housebuyers. I read of a fantastic scheme somewhere (forget where); a local authority had a stock of derelict housing which would cost too much for them to renovate and put back into the public sector housing stock and due to the extremely low property prices in the area it wasn't cost effective for developers to buy them. So they offered to sell them off, for £1.00 each to employed people. These people would instantly qualify for a £30,000 loan from the LA to do the essential repairs needed to make them habitable again (we are talking small, 2 and 3 bed terraced houses). After that, they could get a mortgage in the conventional way. The only caveat was that they had to agree to occupy them for five years and could not let them out. Awesome! a load of unavailable, current housing comes back into the market, the area benefits from the upsurge these newly renovated properties inevitably bring, local businesses benefit from the influx of new customers, the council gets rid of a headache and loads of people suddenly find themselves on the housing ladder - even the lowest paid workers can usually qualify for a loan of £30,000. We need to do more of this."