Gordon Brown has pledged that he will address the UK’s growing housing crisis as a top priority during his term of office.

Preparing to outline his first legislative programme, the new prime minister has insisted that housing in the future will be more affordable, with more unused public and brownfield land freed up for development and new house-building programmes established.

Unveiling plans for new legislation ahead of the Queen’s Speech this autumn, Mr Brown announced that he would carry out extensive public consultation on proposals, which include plans to provide new forms of finance for homebuyers, such as 20-year fixed rate mortgages.

"You are not going to solve this problem overnight but you can make housing more affordable for a large number of people who have been squeezed out of the market," he told BBC Radio 4.

The housing minister now has a place in the cabinet and Mr Brown wants to improve social housing, with more homes to rent across the UK and local authorities given greater power to boost access to the property market. A target of three million new homes by 2020 has been set by the new prime minister to improve affordability.

Creating more affordable housing in Britain is likely to lead to more planning jobs and proposed improvements to the education and health services announced by Mr Brown will boost the number of public sector jobs available.