The government must deliver more affordable housing in order to boost the economy, it has been suggested.
In order to boost the UK's flagging economy and provide housing for people who need it, the Labour administration must invest in producing more affordable dwellings, an industry body has said.
According to the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which describes itself as "the voice of Britain at work", the country is in "desperate need" of new affordable housing.
The organisation made its comments in the wake of figures produced by the Office for National Statistics, which suggested that private housing orders fell by more than half (53 percent) in the financial quarter ending in September of this year.
According to the office, the value of new orders decreased by 11 percent compared with the previous three-month period.
In response to the statistics, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "It is clear that the construction sector has been among the hardest hit by the recession. Yet we are in desperate need of new affordable housing and the government's targets will not be met without decisive intervention."
He went on to say that more needs to be done to bring forward major infrastructure projects as they will deliver homes, jobs and "exactly the right kind of boost that an economy in recession needs".
