Last in the three-part series looking at the varied services performed by Parliamentary Select Committees.
All Around the Houses. Estimates of how many new and renovated properties are required each year depend greatly on who you consult.
The Environment Select Committee's mission is to journey around Britain's inner cities, estates and rural villages in search of a definitive answer.
They encounter overcrowding, flats available as right-to-buy properties that are now unsellable, unfit housing, empty stock belonging to the Government and the diminishing green belt. At a time when an important Housing Bill is beingdebated in Parliament, Triona Holden asks if the committee can rise above party political divisions and come up with a blueprint for the housing of the future. Producer Marc Sigsworth ; Editor Anne Tyerman