Extra funding is being sought by Highland councillors to build new social housing.
Council leader Margaret Davidson is to seek a meeting with the Scottish Government to discuss the issue.
She is seeking to bring grant funding for social housing paid to the council brought up to the same level as housing associations.
The motion attracted cross-party support, with Mrs Davidson saying that as well as finance, a lack of land available to the council was also holding house building back.
She said: “What I think we would all like to see is a real step change in trying to meet the housing need in Highland.
“It’s there and it is an issue. I think anyone who lives in the more urban areas of the inner Moray Firth will know that rents are high and housing supply for young people making that first step on the housing ladder is really difficult.
“The banks are as awkward as hell and getting a mortgage is really challenging so it’s never been more difficult to get a home.”
A previous report put before councillors said that the authority is committed to building 888 new council houses from 2012 to 2017, partly funded by Scottish Government grants.
Grant rates for council housing is currently £59,000 per unit – while housing association grant rates are higher at an average of £74,000 or £84,000 in the west coast.
The report by the council’s head of development Allan Maguire said that there is a “shortage of economically deliverable land” particularly in Inverness – saying the main issue is “unrealistically high land value aspirations” among developers.
Inverness Central councillor Richard Laird said: “We have plenty of land in the Highlands and we’ve got plenty of land that’s been allocated for housing development.
“The problem is it doesn’t sit in our grasp, it is held by housing developers who bought it ten or 15 years ago thinking that given the economy then they would be able to build lots of houses and make lots of cash.
“Now that’s completely changed and they’re basically sitting on these pieces of land and that doesn’t help us with the number of houses we needand what is basically happening is the benefit is going to the balance sheets of these developers and not people in the Highlands.”
He added: “If you’ve got lots of land and you’re not building houses then you should give it to someone who will.”
SNP group leader Maxine Smith said it was important that the overall pot is “widened” rather than taking money away from housing associations.