I’ve just looked up the very cheapest three bedroom semi in the Kendal area. It’s on the market for £137,500, which means that you’re going to need around £14,000 in the bank, an annual income of over £30,000 and a good credit history to stand a chance of raising a mortgage.

If you’ve no savings, forget it.

Made any mistakes with credit cards etc? It’s going to be difficult. Earning the average wage in South Lakeland? Sorry, it’s beyond your reach.

It’s always been hard for young people starting out. My own parents started their married life living with my grandparents while trying to save for a deposit on their own home.

It was pretty crowded when my brother arrived and I still remember the celebration when we received a letter saying that we’d been allocated a Council House on the newly built Hallgarth estate in Kendal.

They were good-quality, well-built, properties with decent-sized gardens, nice kitchens, a washhouse complete with boiler and even a shed.

No central heating of course, but to us, in 1955, it was luxury. The council rent man called once a week and we knew that we were paying our way.

There had been a building programme after the war and we were one of the beneficiaries of a government that believed in publicly-owned housing for working people.

It was seen as a rational and functional part of the housing market and part of a new deal for the British working man.

Remember that our country was literally broke after the war. There really was “no money left” at that point and we had huge debts as a nation.

We built houses because it was unthinkable not to, and because the very act of building stimulated the economy and provided much-needed jobs.

There were more than 7,000 of these homes in South Lakeland. Every town and village had its Council Houses for those who couldn’t afford to buy their own homes.

The state owned the houses and the tenants rents paid all of the running costs. Many tenants wanted to own their own homes and would move on to buy homes on Heron Hill, Kendal Parks and other Kendal estates.

Some stayed, content that they were paying a fair rent and building a local community.

I needn’t tell you what happened next, need I? Half these homes have now gone into private ownership with around a third reappearing as 'Buy to Let' properties.

Young working couples now find it almost impossible to rent a home locally – certainly not a three-bedroomed semi with a nice garden.

We have a housing crisis across the United Kingdom and the latest proposals to sell off yet more of our stock of social housing can only make it worse.

It’s time we stood up for public housing. There are some politicians who would dearly like to see it become a mere backstop for the poorest in our society – just one step above the old workhouse, with private landlords providing most of the rental stock.

I don’t believe this. I believe that a good stock of publicly owned housing, is necessary in order to give balance to the market.

We need social housing, private landlords and private ownership to each have a part in South Lakeland’s housing market.

A decent education, a secure home and a worthwhile job used to be seen as a minimum for everyone in our county.

We can’t afford to let this slip and I’ll continue to work with my fellow Cumbrian councillors to keep this goal alive and to ensure that every one of our children has this opportunity.