Why do the royals need so many homes?

In these days of severe cutbacks for everyone i really do think its very indulgent to provide so many homes to the queen. Everyone else has had to tighten their belts, i don't see why the royals are still being treated so lavishly. Before people say the usual ' it only costs 38p per person or whatever, that amounts to a lot of money and could be used for building hospitals! Does anyone agree?