Bring back prefabs

WITH this country facing the worst housing crisis since the war, isn’t it time the Government looked at some of t he measures used t hen, including building millions of pre - fabricated homes at affordable prices and rents.

Pre-fabs, built to house for those made homeless hitler’s Luftwaffe, lasted many years beyond their expected lifetime and solved the nation’s housing crisis until new conventional houses could be built. Built today, with modern materials and design, pre-fabs could last far longer, would be cheap and would bring decent quality housing within the reach of millions who at the moment have no prospect of owning their own homes.

The current policy of offering incentives to buy and cheap-rate mortgages are a waste of time when only a small pool of houses is available.

Buyers are being given money just so they can take part in a housing auction, bidding against each other for the same houses — a dumb strategy which leads only to inflated prices. I’m surprised that ministers who are supposed to understand economics advocate the policy.

The number of immigrants alone exceeds the number of new houses being built, so what hope is there for the indigenous population? Prefabs could be the solution. All it takes is a Government with some foresight, a bit of gumption and a dash of wartime spirit.

DAVID DANSON, Liskeard, Cornwall.