'I changed jobs, work nights, and we still can't afford a home'

Ten-year-old Elliot, who is simply a large Pokemon fan, says helium would similar to enactment posters up and decorate his magnolia-coloured chamber walls.

It's 1 of the things helium and his 4 brothers would bash if they had a imperishable home.

Parents Sam and Jason person been surviving successful impermanent accommodation with their 5 boys for a twelvemonth present aft they were evicted from the location they were renting successful Portsmouth.

Like galore families, they had to determination due to the fact that the landlord wanted to merchantability and they couldn't spend "extortionate" rents erstwhile they started looking for a caller home.

The section assembly placed them successful a edifice for respective weeks earlier moving them to a three-bedroom house.

The mates accidental surviving successful limbo is incredibly hard and the uncertainty is distressing for the children.

"It doesn't consciousness similar a home," says Jason. "We can't marque this a location due to the fact that we don't cognize however agelong we are going to beryllium present for."

They are present 1 of much than 1,100 families connected the waiting database for a assembly location successful Portsmouth. Jason, 49, is simply a autobus operator and says lodging successful England has go unaffordable for moving families similar his.

It comes arsenic the authorities says it is present trying to tackle England's lodging shortage by mounting ambitious housebuilding targets for areas similar Portsmouth, which could assistance radical similar Sam and Jason.

The purpose is for 370,000 caller homes successful England each year, to fulfil a authorities committedness for 1.5m caller homes wrong the adjacent 5 years. Local authorities are being told to springiness developers support to physique - and readying decisions volition beryllium pushed done by the authorities if necessary.

But immoderate section councils successful England volition request to spot a five-fold summation successful caller lodging to conscionable authorities targets, investigation by BBC Verify suggests.

The BBC has created a caller online instrumentality to alteration radical to way the government's advancement towards its extremity wherever they live.

Portsmouth is 1 of a fig of areas that volition request to adhd much homes successful 1 twelvemonth than it has delivered successful the erstwhile five.

Between March 2019 and March 2024, Portsmouth added a full of 803 homes, equivalent to an summation of conscionable nether 1%.

This was the lowest percent summation successful homes of immoderate section authorization country successful England, according to BBC investigation of lodging data.

Portsmouth's target, acceptable by the Labour government, is to adhd 1,021 homes a year.

The person of the council, Steve Pitt says it volition beryllium intolerable for the coastal authorization to present that galore homes.

He described the people arsenic "stupid and arbitrary" and says it is pointless if determination is obscurity to build.

"Portsmouth has a beauteous unsocial geography. Eleven of the 14 wards successful Portsmouth are connected an island, truthful we lone person a precise constricted magnitude of brownfield space," helium says.

"We've ever tried to explicate this to government. They don't thin to listen."

Mr Pitt says the astir homes the authorization volition beryllium capable to present is 800 a year, falling good abbreviated of the target.

"It doesn't substance whether they archer america to physique much homes oregon not, oregon whether they privation to good america - they won't beryllium built due to the fact that there's obscurity to physique them."

He accepts the country needs much homes and says the authorities should supply capable backing for affordable location gathering to get plans moving.

At the moment, helium says it's "not viable" for societal providers oregon backstage developers due to the fact that they cannot warrant aboriginal rental income volition screen the physique costs.

Housing is 1 of the biggest issues for radical contacting america done Your Voice, Your BBC News.

Lily, 24, got successful interaction to accidental homeownership feels intolerable and is "depressing".

She and her spouse Jacob, 24 person 2 children and accidental reasoning astir wherever they are going to unrecorded is simply a "constant stress".

In 2023, they were evicted erstwhile their landlord wanted to merchantability the level they were surviving in. They are present temporarily renting from a household subordinate but would similar their ain home.

"All we privation is for [our children] to person what we had erstwhile we were little, the information of a household home," says Lily.

Lily and Jacob accidental determination are caller homes being built successful the area, but they aren't affordable for families similar hers.

To effort to prevention for a deposit, Jacob discontinue his occupation successful a schoolhouse and began moving nights successful a warehouse but helium says helium doesn't deliberation there's "a accidental successful hell" of redeeming the £25,000 to £30,000 helium says they would request to enactment down connected a property.

The household unrecorded successful the Gloucestershire municipality of Lydney.

BBC investigation of authoritative information shows that areas successful the South West delivered an mean of astir 23,000 caller homes per twelvemonth successful the past 3 years.

Government targets suggest they are going to person to summation that magnitude by astir three-quarters, to 40,000 a year. Some caller section plans person been refused oregon faced opposition.

Zach Murphy, 25, lives astatine location with his parents successful the borough. He says there's small anticipation of getting connected the lodging ladder successful London.

He moved backmost into his parents' location portion studying for his Masters successful biology science.

"The full crushed wherefore I did my Masters was to get a higher paid job. You request that to acceptable yourself up better. If you privation to person a household - you request a house."

Zach has been connected the rental ladder before, sharing a location with 2 friends - each of them paying £1,000 per month. The precocious rent and outgo of surviving near him with small to save.

BBC investigation has recovered immoderate outliers successful the data. Salford has built much homes successful caller years than the authorities expectation.

Labour's politician of the city, Paul Dennett, says astir person been high-rise apartments successful the metropolis centre and not capable of them person been for those connected debased incomes.

"The marketplace itself isn't delivering the level of genuinely affordable housing. It truly isn't."

Salford presently has 5,000 households successful impermanent accommodation. The politician has committed to gathering 600 assembly homes for rent during his five-year term.

Indeed, the assembly has acceptable up its ain concern called Derive to physique homes that volition beryllium for rent only. Tenants won't beryllium capable to bargain them.

"Since 1980 we've mislaid implicit 10,000 homes nether close to bargain present conscionable successful the metropolis of Salford," Mr Dennett says.

He believes the state needs to get backmost to councils gathering homes again alternatively than relying connected the backstage sector.

He tells america helium doesn't person a occupation with the authorities mounting targets - if authorities are delivering "truly affordable housing".

"We person inherited the worst lodging situation successful surviving memory," says a spokesperson for the ministry for housing, communities and section government.

"This is wherefore each areas indispensable play their portion to present 1.5 cardinal homes."

The authorities says it has unveiled sweeping changes to the readying strategy and vowed to override "blockers" lasting successful the mode of gathering the caller homes.

Yet for families similar Sam and Jason and Lily and Jacob, owning a location oregon adjacent renting successful the backstage sector, inactive feels similar an unattainable dream.

Annual information connected caller homes for England comes from the government's "net further dwellings" statistics.

These figures are estimates of changes successful the full fig of homes successful each area, taking relationship of caller physique homes and existing gathering conversions, minus immoderate demolitions.

The targets are the government's caller "local lodging need" calculations, released pursuing a nationalist consultation.

Planning statistic are taken from quarterly information and harvester applications decided for "minor" lodging developments (fewer than 10 homes) and "major" schemes (10 homes oregon more).

The readying information for England is astatine section authorization level. Applications decided by peculiar authorities, specified arsenic those successful complaint of nationalist parks, are not included.

We person included the latest information connected caller housebuilding "completions" by section authorization country for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but the 1.5 cardinal homes people applies lone successful England.

Interactive instrumentality developed by Allison Shultes, Scott Jarvis, Steven Connor and Daniel Wainwright

Design by Charlie Colbourne and investigating by Preeti Vaghela