A new coalition of the Church of England, Nationwide Foundation, academics and charities, is calling for politicians of all parties to commit to a long-term plan for housing.

The group wants the ministers to set up an independent Housing Strategy Committee which would help to guide policy, provide reports to Parliament and hold government to account on its progress in meeting targets.

In its Homes for All report, the coalition says there is a chronic shortage of housing, with a shortfall of 657,000 new homes against the policy target for the last five years and 1.2m households on local authority social housing waiting lists.

Homelessness rates are at “completely unacceptable levels”, with a minimum of 271,000 people recorded as homeless in England on any given night in 2022 and 131,000 children in temporary accommodation in 2023.

It highlights the growing gulf between income and property prices, with home ownership “out of reach for most young people” as England’s house prices have risen 377% in 30 years, while average disposable income in the UK has risen just 51%.

The coalition is also concerned about the impact of poor quality housing, as 14% of homes fail to meet the Decent Homes Standard and 10% of households “are being exposed to the highest level of health and safety hazard, putting them at risk of serious harm”, it reports.

Addressing the systemic problems in the housing market will require a 30-year strategy of consistent investment and action, it says.

Priorities for the next government should be ensuring that targets for the building of new homes are met – and the report states that there is broad consensus that 300,000 new homes are needed each year, of which 120,000 should be social or affordable.

Another key priority it highlights is reducing the number of households in temporary accommodation to a maximum of 50,000 at any one time.

The coalition includes Lloyds Bank Foundation, Generation Rent, Crisis, Family Building Society, National Housing Federation and many other charities, think tanks and industry stakeholder groups.