00:00Ministers have announced plans for more than 70,000 social and affordable homes to be built
00:05across England over the next decade, backed by almost £10 billion.
00:10Yet figures show that none of the funding in this phase will be allocated to Kent or
00:14the South East.
00:16Majority of the funding will be given to Greater Manchester.
00:19The rest to the West Midlands, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the North East and Liverpool.
00:25Maidstone is just one of the areas across the entire county where demand for social
00:29and affordable housing is increasing year on year and here at this charity they provide
00:34hot meals, food and other services for people who are in need and are incredibly frustrated
00:40at the lack of government funding for social housing here in the county.
00:46It's disgraceful, it's absolutely disgraceful.
00:49More than that, why after all these years are we still in the same situation?
00:56It's beyond me, absolutely beyond me.
00:58Government after government after government, still nothing's happened.
01:03How long will it take?
01:04We're at breaking point, really, and need social housing, really need it here.
01:10Some of these places, they're built and they're still empty.
01:12Why?
01:13Why not just say, right, okay, we've got this, then we'll hand it over to social housing.
01:19Why just leave it empty until they can sell it?
01:21It's just, that is just pure profit.
01:25The investment is the first phase of the government's wider £39 billion programme, aiming to deliver
01:31300,000 social and affordable homes across the country.
01:35But with fears that the King of the North may be forgetting about Kent, what do residents
01:40in Maidstone think of the new funding plans?
01:42I think it should be spread about more evenly rather than the North being portrayed as the
01:48poor part of the country so therefore they get all the money.
01:52There are plenty of places down in the South that, you know, struggle just as much.
01:57Yeah, the property is just self-serving, I think, probably in April or so, you know, I think.
02:02I'm not best impressed at all.
02:04While ministers say this is just the first phase of a much bigger programme, here in the
02:08Garden of England, residents are left asking, when will Kent get a chair?
02:14Naylan Mohamed for KMTV in Maidstone.
