HOMES that cannot be sold because of the property crash should be bought up by the government for Merseyside’s rising army of homeless, MPs demand today.

Any home on the market for one year should be made available for families on local authority waiting lists, a report by a Commons committee says.

The move would help homeowners desperate to sell, as well as providing badly-needed family homes with gardens for those trapped in the housing crisis, according to the all-party communities committee.

Its hard-hitting report also warns that the government appears “powerless” to prevent the banks repossessing homes - despite part-owning some of them and announcing a blizzard of initiatives.

And it calls for “sanctions” against mortgage lenders who ignore government guidelines that homeowners should only be evicted as a last resort.

The number of families waiting for a council or housing association home soared again in Merseyside last year, from 40,697 to 48,426 – around one in every 12 households.

Among the areas where the waiting list rose sharply were Liverpool (from 8,911 to 12,866), Sefton (from 11,650 to 13,444) and Wirral (from 13,912 to 15,066).

The crisis is most acute in Sefton, where a staggering 18.2% of families are waiting for a home.