The deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has pledged new investment in the housing market to unblock development and help "give British families the homes that they need".<br> <br> In a speech to the NHBC annual lunch in London last month, Clegg announced £225 million of new government money to help de-risk projects that are blocked.<br> <br> "The coalition has identified major housing projects that have hit a wall and we are intervening directly to unblock them," he said. "We are working with a number of locally-led schemes, ranging from 4,000 to 9,500 units in size which in total will deliver up to 48,600 new homes."<br> <br> He also confirmed that the European Investment Bank will be injecting £400 million into the UK affordable housing sector. "That money will be allocated next March at the latest and will help deliver new energy efficient affordable homes."<br> <br> The deputy prime minister used the speech to confirm the coalition's determination to tackle the housing shortage. Clegg said that there had ben a "generational shift" in the debate about building new homes as parents watch their children struggle to buy a home. "Parents don't want their sons and daughters frozen out of the housing …