Number of London households on councils' housing waiting lists at highest level in a decade
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The number of households on waiting lists for social housing in London last year hit the highest level for more than a decade, according to newly published data. A total of 336,366 households were waiting for a council or housing association home as of April 1, 2024.
The figure for that same April date has risen every year since 2018, and is now at its highest since 2013, when 344,294 households were waiting on lists across the capital’s boroughs. The data helps to outline the scale of the housing crisis facing the Labour Government, which has promised to create 1.5 million new homes by 2029.
Social housing includes both council homes and housing association properties. Rents are linked with local incomes and councils prioritise applications based on who needs a home most urgently. Almost a quarter (23 per cent) of the households on London’s total list were waiting for a home in either Newham or Lambeth.
Newham had the capital’s largest list, with 38,417 households, closely followed by Lambeth with 38,131. The smallest list was found in the City of London’s ‘square mile’, with 1,072 households, followed by the borough of Bexley, with 1,479. “London is grappling with the most severe housing and homelessness crisis in the country,” said Grace Williams, executive member for housing at London Councils - the capital’s local government association. “The capital is becoming increasingly unaffordable and, as these numbers demonstrate, there is a desperate need for more social housing.
