For most of the last century, nearly all social housing in Britain was provided by local councils.

But council housing was not well run in many major cities and the Tories, under Margaret Thatcher, decided to stop local authorities from building more.

Now social housing is built by associations funded largely by the Housing Corporation.

This works well in places such as Brighton and Hove, where there is a good partnership between the council and the main providers.

But at present, the city council, which has an over-riding duty to house its citizens properly, is plainly unable to cope with demand.

Subsidy has moved from paying for bricks and mortar to paying rents through housing benefit for people in privately rented housing.

The figure is vast. About £90 million a year, not far off £2 million a week, is being paid in housing and associated benefits in the city.

Unison, the public sector union, has queried whether this money would not be better spent on actual homes.

It is time the Government had a rethink about housing, which has been too low on its agenda, and it should also be looking again at the most effective way of funding it.

One method might be to give councils and associations greater powers to buy into the private sector, where buildings which could provide much-needed homes are empty for months and even years.