Millions of Britons face long spells on waiting lists for affordable homes, the National Housing Federation (NHF) has revealed...

The NHF claim that demand for UK Property is so stretched that government schemes for affordable housing have been pushed to their limits, with an estimated 1.6 million householders on waiting lists nationwide, reports Property News.

Initiatives such as the Home-ownership schemes were introduced by the Government to help people on modest incomes who cannot afford to buy a home without help, while Key Worker Living schemes give support to key public sector workers, such as nurses or teachers.

A spokesperson for the group said although he agreed it was "really important" to get key workers into homes they can afford, he admitted many people had been confused as the whether they too qualified for the key worker scheme.

Government investment ‘crucial’

"It's equally important to help a range of people on middle incomes onto the housing ladder as well," he said.

"You can define 'key worker' very narrowly when in fact, there's a very wide range of professions which you could argue is absolutely key to the successful local economy.

"There are many other services that can suffer when decent staff aren't able to live in the area, not just [in] education or health or what are seen as the traditional key worker sectors."

He also added that he believed government investment was crucial in the success of such schemes in the future.