Eastleigh is in the grip of a housing crisis as it battles to find homes for thousands of families who do not have a permanent roof over their heads.

The number of families on the waiting list for social housing last year rocketed by nearly 600 to more than 4,000.

During that time only 136 homes were built.

It is a grim housing prospect for couples like Simon and Jenny Head, who have two young children.

Simon, a 33-year-old glazier, has been forced to live away from 28-year-old Jenny and their children, Danielle, 2, and one year-old Aiden.

Simon is living about two miles away with his parents in Drake Road, Bishopstoke, while Jenny and the two children are staying with her mum in Campbell Road, Eastleigh.

They are on the urgent list on Eastleigh Council's Homechoice register but Jenny said: "We have been given no indication as to when they can find us a home and so cannot make any plans."

Last July the Head family moved out of a two-bedroom maisonette in Elm Tree Gardens which they had on a short-term tenancy.

The demolition squad has moved in to wipe away the

1960s-built town centre complex and replace it with homes

more in keeping with the 21st century.

But the Head family has no hope of being given a home in the first phase of The Gardens redevelopment.

Council bosses have admitted that they are fighting a losing battle in what has become a deepening housing crisis.

Head of housing Tony Hall says: "Eastleigh is not managing to keep up with the need for housing at the moment.

"We did predict in June that there was a need for more than 600 extra homes a year.

"We did realise we would probably only be able to build about 130.

"We've got limited funds and it's difficult to get the land and the planning permission. People living nearby protest because they think their area is being over-developed.

"We're constrained to what we can provide."