A housing crisis in the UK is being exacerbated by a shortage of bricklayers. Britain needs to build more homes to enable young people to get on the housing ladder and to end the scourge of homelessness. Soaring rents and a lack of affordable housing have greatly increased rough sleeping. Successive governments over decades have failed to meet their housebuilding targets. The latest government's efforts are being hindered by a shortfall of qualified bricklayers and other skilled tradespeople. The UK needs an extra 25,000 bricklayers, 3,000 plumbers, 4,000 plasterers, 10,000 carpenters, and 3,000 new electricians to meet its pledge to build 1.5 million new homes.

The UK government has blamed the deficit in construction worker numbers on "years of underinvestment in skills". A housing ministry official said her department was doing its utmost to build 300,000 new homes a year. Another spokesperson added: "We will pull every lever to deliver on our commitment, which includes building a diverse workforce." However, Colin Brown, a housebuilding consultant, called the government's home construction pledge "unrealistic". He said training sufficient numbers of workers could take "a generation". He added that the current target of adding 5,000 new apprenticeships each year was "fanciful" and a "drop in the ocean".