It would take more than 100 years to clear the waiting lists in some London boroughs at current rates of progress, reports Noah Vickers, Local Democracy Reporter

The waiting list for a family-sized social rented home in some London boroughs would now take over a century to clear completely at the current rate of progress, new research has found.

An analysis by the National Housing Federation found that families waiting for properties with three or more bedrooms in Westminster, Enfield or Merton boroughs, would all have to wait over 100 years to get a home, assuming nobody new joined the list at a higher priority level and they were at the bottom of it.

Westminster topped the national chart with an estimated 107 years required to clear the waiting list for family-sized homes, while Enfield was estimated at 105 years, and Merton at 102 years. Waltham Forest was the 28th highest in England with 19.6 years needed.

The average estimate across London is 27 years, far above the average across England of seven years.

Kate Henderson, the NHF’s chief executive, said: “The fact that families in so many parts of the country face waiting lists for an affordable home longer than their children’s entire childhood is a national scandal.

“Security, stability and the space to learn and play is vital for a child’s development, yet we are allowing hundreds of thousands of children to grow up in damaging temporary homes, in cramped and poor-quality conditions and with little privacy. This is no way for a child to grow up and these children deserve better.”

The NHF’s data comes after the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed in January that the total number of households on waiting lists for social housing in London last year hit the highest level for more than a decade. A total of 336,366 households were waiting home in the capital as of April 1, 2024.

In a joint message with the charities Crisis and Shelter, the NHF has called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to put major investment into social housing in her spending review in June.

“Every day our frontline services hear from desperate parents forced into impossible situations,” said Mairi MacRae, director of policy and campaigns at Shelter. “Families squeezed into single room temporary accommodation, with nowhere for children to play or do homework.

“Key workers uprooted from their jobs and communities because there are simply no homes they can afford nearby. Childhoods are being lost to homelessness and it’s costing the country billions.

“The June spending review is the government’s chance to right this wrong. By committing to serious investment in social housing – building 90,000 social homes a year for a decade – we can end the housing emergency, save public money, and give every child the foundation they need to thrive.”

A spokesperson for London Councils – the capital’s local government association – said in response to the NHF’s research: “The growing number of Londoners stuck on waiting lists for social housing is evidence of the capital’s worsening housing and homelessness emergency.

“With one in 50 Londoners homeless, boroughs are doing everything we can to build the affordable homes our communities are crying out for. However, we are also struggling with enormous resource constraints and immense challenges to housing delivery in London.

“Boroughs are determined to turn the situation around. We are strongly pro-housing growth and committed to working with the government to boost housebuilding in the capital. Increased and sustained long-term investment in affordable housing is key to making this happen.”

A spokesperson at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government responded: “The findings of this report highlight the scale and devastating impact of the social housing crisis we’ve inherited.

“We’re taking urgent action to fix this through our plan for change, injecting £2billion to help deliver the biggest boost in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, investing in homelessness services, and bringing forward overdue reforms to the Right to Buy scheme that will protect the stock of existing social housing.”

Housing minister Matthew Pennycook also pointed out in answer to a recent written question on the topic: “The number of households on the housing register (waiting list) is not the same as the number of households waiting.

“Local authorities periodically review their registers to remove households who no longer require housing, so the total number of households on housing registers may overstate the number of households who still require social housing at any one time.”

The NHF’s ‘top ten’ local authorities across England, in terms of estimated time to clear the waiting list for a home with three bedrooms or more, is as follows:

Westminster – 106.7
Enfield – 105.3
Merton – 102.4
Wandsworth – 82.0
Camden – 81.8
Mansfield – 75.5
Slough – 74.3
Redbridge – 74.3
Greenwich – 67.1
Newham – 42.5

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