Shelter demands action as social housing waiting lists hit 100 years in London

Families could face a 100-year wait for social housing in London, new research warns.

Data from the National Housing Federation reveals that in Westminster, some families are facing waits of up to 107 years for a three-bedroom social home.

Housing charity Shelter is urging the government to tackle the crisis by committing to build 90,000 social homes a year for the next decade.

Number of families on waiting list has increased

According to the National Housing Federation, the number of families on waiting lists in England has increased by 37% since 2015, six times the rate of the waiting list overall.

In 32 local authorities across England, the wait is now longer than an entire childhood (18+ years), with the worst three councils, all of which are in London (Westminster, Enfield and Merton), having waiting lists exceeding a hundred years.

Local authorities across England have placed people into temporary accommodation to keep waiting lists down.

According to the latest government figures, a record 164,040 children are homeless and stuck in damaging temporary accommodation, double the number in 2012,  and one in every six children is living in an overcrowded home.

Social housing sector has faced years of withdrawal of vital funding

Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, says the long wait time are a “national scandal”.

She 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 social housing sector has faced years of withdrawal of vital funding. The upcoming Spending Review is the opportunity for the government to rebuild the capacity of the social housing sector and commit the investment and the change that is needed, creating a better future for our children and ending homelessness for good.

“This means delivering coordinated homelessness and long-term housing strategies which include a package of measures to support the social housing sector to recover and crucially a big boost in funding to build new social homes.”

Building 90,000 social homes a year for a decade

Shelter claims to meet demand more than 90,000 social homes would need to be built each year to meet demand, more than ten times the current rate.

Mairi MacRae, director of policy and campaigns at Shelter, said: “Decades of failure to build genuinely affordable social homes has left our housing system in tatters and trapped families in a relentless cycle of insecurity and homelessness. No child should grow up without a safe, stable home, but today, more than 164,000 children are spending their formative years in damaging and often dangerous temporary accommodation.

“Every day our frontline services hear from desperate parents forced into impossible situations. 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.”

According to Shelter, social rents are 69% more affordable than private rents, with social tenants in England paying on average £947 less per month in rent than private tenants.