ABOUT 3,500 people in Plymouth are either homeless or live in temporary, overcrowded or unsuitable homes.

More than 10,000 people are on the waiting list for homes – and over the past year that number has been as high as 12,500.

Now a new plan to tackle the housing crisis is being drawn up by city experts.

In the 2008 to 2011 period 993 new affordable homes were built in the city, well short of an annual target of more than 1,600 – a problem Plymouth shares with the rest of the country.

"If we meet our target for affordable homes that would solve all our problems," Stuart Palmer, assistant director for strategic housing at Plymouth City Council, said. "But nobody in the UK has been able to solve that problem.

"We have significantly increased the supply of affordable housing over the past three to five years."

Now the council, working with other partners, has drawn up a new draft Housing Plan for the five years until 2017.

"We can't wait for the Government to sort it out," Mr Palmer said. "We have to grasp the nettle.

"More people are approaching us for help and that's a symptom of the recession."

The council helps about 400 families a year to avoid homelessness.

Plymouth has a higher than normal proportion of people living in rented homes, and the average first-time buyer is 37.

"Because first-time buyers can't get on the housing ladder, growing families are finding that they can't trade up," Mr Palmer said.

"Nationally, rents are going up. That market will overheat if it is not addressed."

Cllr Ted Fry, the city's Cabinet member for development and strategic housing, said that any changes in the way housing is delivered would have to be brought in gradually to avoid bringing down property values with a crash.

"We have to change and we have to grasp this new approach. You can't stand still."

Nick Carter, housing strategy and development manager at the council, said they were also tackling the problem of hundreds of empty homes in the city.

"My personal view is that the owner-occupier isn't going to solve the problem in the short term. We should look to Europe, which has a thriving rental market."

Professor Bob Brown, Head of Architecture at Plymouth University, played a role in formulating the Housing Plan with the council.

He said: "There needs to be a linkage with economic regeneration because one is not going to happen without the other.

"At a time when resources are far more limited you have to be more strategic."

This meant focusing on particular problem areas such as Millbay, Devonport and North Prospect.

He welcomed the redevelopment of North Prospect, but said: "Historically there has been the notion to treat it as a blank slate, but there is always something in a community that is worth building on.

"People live lives now that are far more extended and connected than they used to be. Regeneration of a community becomes problematic if it is seen as a hermetically sealed unit."

The plan can be viewed on the 'Have your say' section of www.plymouth.gov.uk.

Copies of the plan and comment sheets will be available in all city libraries, local housing offices and in First Stop in the Civic Centre.

The consultation closes on February 13.