A housing crisis in the UK is being [excavated / exacerbated] by a shortage of bricklayers. Britain needs to build more homes to [enable / disable] young people to get on the housing ladder and to end the scourge [at / of] homelessness. Soaring rents and a lack [of / on] affordable housing have greatly increased [rough / tough] sleeping. Successive governments over decades have failed to [build / meet] their housebuilding targets. The latest government's efforts are being hindered [by / of] a shortfall of qualified bricklayers and other skilled tradespeople. The UK needs [the / an] extra 25,000 bricklayers, 3,000 plumbers, 4,000 [plasters / plasterers] , 10,000 carpenters, and 3,000 new electricians to meet its [purge / pledge] to build 1.5 million new homes.
The UK government has blamed the [surplus / deficit] in construction worker numbers on "[years / yearly] of underinvestment in skills". A housing ministry official said her department was doing its [mostly / utmost] to build 300,000 new homes a year. Another spokesperson added: "We will pull every [lever / fever] to deliver on our commitment, which includes building a diverse [workforce / workshop] ." However, Colin Brown, a housebuilding [consultant / consultancy] , called the government's home construction [pledge / ledge] "unrealistic". He said training [sufficient / sufficiently] numbers of workers could take "a generation". He added that the [currant / current] target of adding 5,000 new apprenticeships each year was "fanciful" and a "drop in the [puddle / ocean] ".
