A/HRC/25/54/Add.2 design measures that respond to the housing need of specific population groups, starting with the most disenfranchised but also looking at those who may be rendered vulnerable by action or inaction. 26. In this light, it is clear that social and affordable housing is especially scarce, waiting lists for social rental housing have grown, homelessness rates have increased, and the private rented sector has expanded to become the only option for many despite its insecure tenure. In April 2012, facing a waiting list that had grown by 81 per cent (since 1997) in England,33 councils noted that they would be compelled to use more private rentals, particularly to provide emergency accommodation. As many as 1.4 million properties — 35 per cent of the private rented sector — do not meet the Decent Homes Standard.34 In the Special Rapporteur’s view, this can be described as a housing crisis. 27. Part of the problem might be the priorities governing the allocation of resources. In 1975, about 80 per cent of public investment in housing went to capital funding for new council homes or maintenance of existing stock. By 2000, however, the bulk of public spending in this area was directed to housing benefits; more recently, a significant proportion of that amount has been going to private landlords.35 Added to this, the housing stock is no longer viewed as a public resource, to be kept available for various generations. The housing stock sold under the Right to Buy scheme has not been replaced. At the time, local councils received half of the money from the sales, but faced strict capital controls, making it difficult to use the money to replace homes that were sold. 28. From 1997 to 2012, median house prices in England rose 200 per cent, while median full-time earnings rose just 55 per cent.36 Indeed, prices have increased at a rate double the European Union average for the last 30 years (2.45 rather than 1.1 per cent per year).37 According to at least one source, a minimum of 1.5 million homes need to be built between 2015 and 2020, not only to address backlog, but also, importantly, to tackle affordability in the sector.38 29. The Barker review of 2004 had warned about negative impacts of housing market volatility, whereby higher house prices tend to favour older generations at the expense of younger, and where “the wealth gap between home owners and others is widening”.39 Currently, one in five households in the United Kingdom cannot meet their housing costs, and require State support. One million out of 5 million claims for housing benefits are submitted by working families. There are over 1.8 million households on the register for social housing and more than 650,000 households living in overcrowded conditions, and the cost of privately renting homes has risen by 37 per cent in the past five years.40 30. The credit crunch of 2007 had its peculiarities in the United Kingdom. Although housing prices dropped in some areas — the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis — by 2010 they had recovered. Indeed, the central features of the credit crunch were falls in 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 8 DCLG, Live tables on rents, lettings and tenancies, Table 600 (December 2012). TPAS (Tenant Participation Advisory Service), “Written submission to the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Private Rented Sector: how the sector should be regulated” (2013), para. 2.2. Andy Hull and Graeme Cooke, “Together at home – a new strategy for housing”, Institute for Public Policy Research (2012), pp. 7 and 75. DCLG, Live tables on housing market and house prices, Table 586. Robertson, “What goes up”, (footnote 24) p. 11. Policy Exchange, Taxing Issues? Reducing Housing Demand or Increasing Housing Supply (London, 2013), pp. 4 and 58. Kate Barker, Review of Housing Supply: Final Report – Recommendations (2004), p. 3. National Housing Federation (NHF) position paper, 28 August 2013, prepared in the context of the Special Rapporteur’s visit.