The number of houses being built is falling, figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government show.
David Orr, of the National Housing Federation, said the situation is "just getting worse and worse."
"We don't build enough new homes," he told the Today programme.
Housing minister Grant Shapps said he was in "complete agreement there is a housing crisis".
"It is ridiculously expensive for people to buy houses in this country... the only way we can solve this is to build new homes," he told James Naughtie.
Figures show that housing starts were 10% down on the previous quarter, against the background of increasing rents.
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