A GRIM report on housing needs in the Petersfield area this week has revealed that East Hampshire District CouncilÕs provision of new affordable homes is hopelessly inadequate.

And young people have been warned their only options could be to stay at home, share or move away from the district.

Council leaders are now having urgent talks with the Drum housing group in a bid to find a way forward and district councillors were due to have a private debate at last nightÕs full council meeting.

The survey warns that nearly 750 new affordable homes are needed every year to meet demands of young people already living in the district who want their own homes.

But the district council is only able to fund the building of 100 new affordable homes and the stark message from the council was: Òthis desperate need will largely be unmetÓ.

The level of demand in East Hampshire, said senior policy planner Andrew Biltcliffe, was double the total number of both affordable and private homes which were likely to be built.

And the situation was likely to get worse, warned despondent council leader Elizabeth Cartwright, with the abolition of the Local Authority Social Housing Grant in April.

Until now this has enabled the council to fund new housing association schemes and claim the money back from central government.

ÒThe situation is terrible,Ó she told The Herald, ÒitÕs ghastly to think that 84 per cent of the young Ôemerging householdsÕ in our district cannot afford to house themselves because they find it impossible to afford local housing prices.Ó

Mrs Cartwright said housing schemes for the next year would be honoured and the district council had funding through the governmentÕs Challenge Fund for some homes on PetersfieldÕs Ramshill and at Alton.

ÒBut when itÕs gone, itÕs gone,Ó she told The Herald, Òand what we are really worried about is that the Government will do to us what they did to the county council this year and we could lose £450,000 in grant funding.Ó

In an effort to boost the amount of affordable housing which may be built, the district councilÕs cabinet is considering a report next week, which proposes an increase in the amount which house builders can be asked to contribute to affordable housing.

Mr Biltcliffe said that currently, on sites of more than 24 homes, developers provided up to 30 per cent of the houses as affordable houses with joint funding from the district council and partners such as housing associations.

If the report was agreed, said Mr Biltcliffe, the level of contribution made by builders would increase to up to 35 per cent on sites as small as five homes in villages and 15 homes in towns and larger settlements.