{"id":607522,"date":"2025-12-02T14:06:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T14:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/607522\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T14:06:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T14:06:11","slug":"waiting-lists-for-london-social-housing-more-than-double-in-some-boroughs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/607522\/","title":{"rendered":"Waiting lists for London social housing more than double in some boroughs\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

The number of people on social housing waiting lists has increased by more than 150% over the past decade in some London boroughs, amid an investigation<\/a> into how local councils allocate their housing stock.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The London Assembly Housing Committee is seeking to understand variations in social housing allocation policies, and whether they are applied fairly and make best use of current supply.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chair Zo\u00eb Garbett said the committee chose to examine allocation policies following discussions about the pressure that the temporary accommodation crisis is placing on Londoners and their families.<\/p>\n

One social housing tenant in Kensington & Chelsea, who did not want to be identified in case it harmed their application, said they had been trying to secure a move for over eight years but had faced an \u2018iron wall of bureaucracy\u2019.<\/p>\n

The transfer was requested in 2016, after their two young children, now teenagers, moved into their current one-bedroom flat.<\/p>\n

The tenant said: \u201cMy children\u2019s education has been ruined. They can\u2019t study in a studio apartment, they can\u2019t invite friends, and they are not performing well in school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Data<\/a> released by the housing department shows that the number of households on waiting lists has more than doubled in some London local authorities, as well as highlighting major discrepancies in waiting lists across boroughs.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In October 2024, east London had a higher combined waiting list than the rest of the city put together.<\/p>\n

Newham (38,417), Lambeth (38,131) and Brent (33,263) were the local authorities with the highest waiting lists, with each seeing the amount waiting to be housed more than doubling in a decade.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The number of households on the Lambeth waiting list, for example, has jumped from 15,264 in 2014 to 38,131 in 2024 \u2013 an increase of almost 150%.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In London, each local authority sets its own policy for allocating housing, either using a points-based or banding system, taking into account factors like serious medical conditions, homelessness, family size, and housing disrepair.<\/p>\n

As such, one issue the committee is investigating is the extent to which variations in allocation policies are responsible for major discrepancies between boroughs.<\/p>\n

Explaining the thinking behind council allocation policies, Wandsworth Council cabinet member for housing Aydin Dikerdem, said: \u201cThe aim is to try and prioritise those in the most acute need, whilst also balancing the fairness of the time someone that has been waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that people with major disrepair cases, with young children, and those with very serious medical needs were likely to be awarded higher points and therefore be placed in a higher priority band.<\/p>\n

Initial evidence hearings focused on the barriers faced by applicants in accessing social housing, with a particular focus on disabled residents and Black applicants, in light of a recent report<\/a> by Shelter on racial discrimination in the social housing sector.<\/p>\n

Regarding the complexities of the bidding system, Kwajo Tweneboa, a prominent social housing activist and writer, told the committee: \u201cTenants bid for years with no feedback, no transparency, no accountability. It\u2019s not a system, it\u2019s a black hole.\u201d<\/p>\n

More widely, data also highlights the scale of London\u2019s housing crisis relative to the rest of England.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The number of households on waiting lists in the capital has risen by more than 100,000 since 2016 and now constitutes more than a quarter of the total amount.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Behind these statistics lie hundreds of thousands of Londoners desperate to find safe housing that will provide stability for them and their children, such as the tenant from Kensington & Chelsea.<\/p>\n

Yet research from the National Housing Federation suggests that the waitlist for a family-sized social home in London would currently take 27 years to clear on average \u2013 rising to more than a century in some boroughs.<\/p>\n

While Dikerdem said he was interested to see the outcome of the committee\u2019s investigation, he cautioned that the debate around allocation policies risked \u2018dancing around the fundamental question\u2019 of building more affordable and social homes.<\/p>\n

Dikerdem leads the Homes for Wandsworth programme, a council-led development scheme which has so far built 500 new council homes in the borough, with 500 more in the pipeline.<\/p>\n

The 1980 Housing Act enabled council tenants to buy their homes, many of which were later sold back on the private rental market.<\/p>\n

Data from London Councils suggests that more than 316,000 London council homes have been sold since the legislation was introduced, while a report<\/a> from the Centre for London notes that 40% of social homes sold through the scheme are now private rentals.<\/p>\n

In 1979, 31% of the total number of homes rented in England were social homes. Now, according to the House of Commons library<\/a>, the number is roughly 16%.<\/p>\n

This dramatic fall in the number of council homes comes alongside an affordability crisis in London\u2019s private rental sector, where prices have risen 83%<\/a> since 2010.<\/p>\n

Speaking in her capacity as Green assembly member, Zo\u00eb Garbett said she saw soaring rents as one of the main factors for waiting list numbers going up.<\/p>\n

Concerns about affordability and the declining number of council homes have not yet been met with a successful drive to build new social and affordable housing \u2013 despite the government\u2019s pledge to build 1.5million new homes by the end of the parliament.<\/p>\n

In October, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Housing Secretary Steve Reed reduced the quota of affordable homes that developers must build in order for their applications to be fast-tracked, from 35% to 20%.<\/p>\n

Cllr Dikerdem said he thought the move was a mistake, while Suzanne Muna, secretary and co-founder of national campaign group Social Housing Action Campaign (SHAC), said the mayor\u2019s housing strategy had been \u2018woeful\u2019.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cAll they\u2019ve done is twice cut social housing targets for the new development projects. You get a whole load of new developments, but don\u2019t actually alleviate the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garbett added: \u201cThe Mayor has just listened more to developers \u2013 I feel like the solutions being presented are the same ones that have got us into this crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government says they really want to solve this crisis, but they\u2019re not bringing in rent controls, they\u2019re not stopping Right to Buy, they\u2019re not assessing all the things that we know that work.\u201d<\/p>\n

These various strands of London\u2019s housing crisis have reached their apotheosis in the unprecedented numbers of people currently placed in temporary accommodation.<\/p>\n

Currently, more than 164,000<\/a> children live in temporary housing across England, with the number of households with children increasing by 15.7% from September 2023.<\/p>\n

According to data from London councils<\/a>, local authorities are now spending \u00a35.5 million a day on homelessness, with the bulk of that money used for temporary accommodation for families they have a statutory duty to house.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Diderkim said the temporary accommodation crisis is key to understanding why waiting lists are so high, as well as the issues councils face allocating their limited social housing stock.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cSomeone who is currently housed in precarious private rental accommodation on a low income, who is trying to get access to social housing, they are in some senses competing with an almost never-ending supply of constant homelessness cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going forwards, Dikerdem says he is concerned that if current trends continue, social housing will increasingly be seen as a fallback option for the most vulnerable people in society.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThat becomes a self-fulfilling cycle whereby it can be used to undermine social housing as a place where there\u2019s genuine diversity of communities. You\u2019ve got key workers living on the same blocks. You\u2019ve got\u00a0people from all walks of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get really worried about the crisis exacerbating the idea that only those in the most need should get access to social housing. But obviously in the reality of the situation that we\u2019re under, that is how we have to operate.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said:\u00a0\u201cThe Mayor has made building new social and council homes a top priority.\u00a0 Under Sadiq, we have seen more new council home starts in London than at any time since the 1970s and, prior to the pandemic, more new homes completed in London than any time since the 1930s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe impact of the pandemic, Brexit and the failures of the previous government have created a perfect storm for housebuilding in the capital.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cBut the Mayor is not willing to stand by while the supply of affordable housing for Londoners dries up. That\u2019s why he has worked with the government on a time-limited package of bold measures to deliver more homes across the capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadiq welcomes the Assembly Housing Committee\u2019s investigation into the allocation of social housing in London and will carefully consider its recommendations. \u201cThe Mayor will always do everything he can to accelerate the delivery of social housing we continue to build a better, fairer London for everyone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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