Last night, BBC One's Inside Out broadcast a series of regional programmes focusing on the various effects of the national housing shortage in the UK.
From Londoners being locked out of the affordable homes market and revenge evictions to pensioners being encouraged to downsize to free up space, most programmes concentrated on the negative aspects of the housing market.
However, in the East Midlands, property expert Kate Faulkner sought-out potential solutions.
As part of the 30 minute programme, she explored the future for social housing, creative ways to build your dream home and new moves in the world of rent - professional shared housing.
She visited tenant Oliver Spence in Nottingham, a city where there is one of the biggest housing shortages in the country and partly because a lot of younger people are choosing to set up home in the area.
Oliver, a former Nottingham Trent University graduate, had had enough of student living, but he couldn't afford to buy and didn't want to rent alone either. He found a high quality and affordable option via Livingstone Homes, owned by Platinum Property Partners' Andrew Paris and Julie Fleming.
As he shows Kate around the property and the large communal kitchen, she says: "This is amazing…moreFriends than Rising Damp." And Oliver agrees. He tells Kate: "It's much nicer than student accommodation. It's a higher standard and we have a cleaner that comes each week."
Including the cleaner and all of the bills, tenants of Livingstone Homes pay around £500 a month. Kate adds that with "all mod cons and a social life too, this model seems to fill the gap between student life and the first rung of the housing ladder."
Oliver's landlord and PPP Partner Andrew Paris commented: "I have kids of a similar age to our tenants and I always consider whether I would be happy for them to live in one of our properties.
"Professional house shares are a crucial way of providing high quality accommodation in a large city for mobile workers and in fact, the social side is very important as moving away from home can be very lonely. It's a great way of getting to know an area and making some new friends."
With tenant demand on the increase and a severe lack of homes, professional Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) are one affordable rented option that makes efficient use of existing housing stock.
You can watch last night's episode here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06bqt9r/inside-out-east-midlands-21092015
