THE leader of Basildon Council has admitted it is “unable to provide” houses to the growing number of people in need, including a rise in young adults pleading for homes.

Andrew Baggott, Tory leader of the council, admitted there is a “deluge of people needing a house” which the council has been unable to provide for due to “limited resources”.

It comes as Mr Baggott was quoted in an article in the Guardian on Britain’s “social housing crisis” and calling for “radical solutions” which include “regulation of the private rented sector to keep rents affordable, long-term government investment in social housing and an increase in local housing allowance”.

Mr Baggott added that the issues affecting Basildon are “complex with a number of problematic issues”, as the council has a duty to house residents and there is “a rising number of people declaring homeless”.

“There is a school of thought that it is the new pregnancy option, where there is a myth that if you were pregnant, you could obtain a council house and the new version is if you present homeless, you have a house, so it is an easy option, whether this is true we don’t know or if society is in a worse state,” Mr Baggott said.

Data taken from the 2021 census, highlighted 3,405 homes as overcrowded in Basildon, which is 4.5 per cent of houses in the area.

Alongside the overcrowded homes, 50,720 homes were judged as “under-occupied” - meaning they have room to spare.

Furthermore, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities shows just 120 new homes were built in Basildon in the 12 twelve months to June, a decrease from 240 completed between 2021-2022.

In the year to June, 170 new build constructions were started, a decrease of 30 from the previous year.

Mr Baggott said: “There must be public reassurance in the council’s ability, radical rethinking about options to solve the issue, we were shouting from the foothills.

“People might genuinely be in need and there are areas of the borough and people lose housing for all kinds of reasons, we want to tackle the underlying issue, we want to tackle the issue at the same time as the other solutions.”