The move means many of the 28,000 on the waiting list for a council house in the capital now face an even longer wait for a property as the city grapples with a deepening housing crisis.

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In the seven months since allocations were paused – except for those with mobility needs or awaiting hospital discharge – an additional 490 properties have been made available as temporary accommodation.

While the council describes the increase in availability of legally suitable temporary housing as “significant,” demand continues to outpace supply. Over the same period, 2,179 new homelessness cases were assessed. Furthermore, between April and October 312 refugees refugees assessed as homeless, up from 194 in the same period last year.

Newly-published figures also show that nearly 1,000 households remain in unsuitable accommodation, including 18 families with children and 180 households with at least one young person aged from 16 to 25. Many though continue to be denied a space in any temporary accommodation; during October the authority failed to provide 271 households assessed as homeless with a place to stay – an increase of 25 households from September.

This means the council is failing to meet its statutory duty to provide everyone assessed as homeless with suitable accommodation – a failure occurring on a significant scale for months now.

Homelessness officials have warned that even if councillors vote next month to reinstate the previous allocations policy – which reserves 60% of council homes for homeless households – projections show 645 households would still be living in unsuitable accommodation by March 2027.

Instead, they have recommended continuing the suspension for a further 16 months, with modelling indicating this would cut the number in unsuitable temporary accommodation to 268 by the same date.

Officials said that data from Edindex, the council house bidding platform, shows the suspension “has had an impact with an increased average number of bids per property due to a lower number of properties being available.

“This indicates that bidding for permanent accommodation for all applicants on Edindex has been more competitive.”