Shelter has crunched the numbers, and they're not great: at the current rate of building, it would take 119 years to clear England's social housing waiting lists. That's 1.3 million households waiting, but only 12,198 new social homes built last year - meaning 110 families are competing for every single new home. Sarah Elliott, Shelter's chief executive, noted that if the government keeps up this "snail's pace," none of us alive today will see the end of the housing emergency. She warned communities will keep being "ripped apart" and children will be "trapped in homelessness for generations." Over the last 15 years, new social rent homes have dropped 64%, while homelessness in temporary accommodation has skyrocketed 155%. In 20% of council areas, exactly zero social homes were built in the last two years. By contrast, in 1967 - the golden age of social housing - 46% of all new homes were for social rent, and councils built 97% of them. Suzanne Muna of the Social Housing Action Campaign called the government "deluded" for chanting "build, baby, build" without a real plan, arguing the crisis is "actively exploited by private landlords and housing associations" who convert family homes into expensive temporary accommodation for councils. Shelter points the finger at a £29 billion housing debt passed to councils in 2012, which they say is paralyzing construction and forcing sell-offs through right-to-buy discounts. Councils want the debt forgiven or reduced. The government, for its part, promises a "council housing revolution" with 300,000 new social and affordable homes - 180,000 for social rent, or about six times the number built in the decade before 2024. A Ministry of Housing spokesperson said the Social Housing Bill will tackle "decades of sell-off" and is backed by a £39 billion programme. Shelter says 90,000 social rent homes per year for 10 years would do the trick. That's roughly 7.4 times the current annual output - but hey, who's counting?