THE housing crisis may be a wider national issue, but it is being felt in our district.

This week we bring you two stories about how a lack of new affordable homes is hurting residents.

Nearly double the amount of families are being put in temporary accommodation to avoid them being made homeless, compared with five years ago.

Back in 2012 there were 32 families in need.

In 2015/16 it was 59.

At the same time schools in our rural district are struggling to recruit and keep teachers here.

The reason has been put down to a lack of affordable houses for them to move into.

The housing market in the UK has been described as “broken” and the reality is not enough homes are being built.

The ones that are built can often be priced out of reach for many people as not all potential homeowners can stretch to the hundreds of thousands of pounds new homes cost.

More and more people are being priced out of the housing market, rents are going up and there are more people fighting for each property.

Shelter says on average, house prices are now almost seven times people’s incomes.

On top of this they say more than 50,000 people are being made homeless each year.

Families should not be faced with the fear of losing a roof over their heads.

It is a crisis which is not easy to fix.

But put simply more homes need to be built, and soon.