Newly released government statistics paint a stark picture of London's escalating social housing crisis, with the number of households stuck on waiting lists climbing to a staggering high.
A Growing Capital Crisis
Figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) confirm that 341,421 households were on London's housing registers as of March 31st this year. This represents a 2 per cent increase from the 336,357 households recorded in 2024, underscoring a deepening problem in the capital.
The situation varies dramatically across the city's boroughs. Waltham Forest experienced the most severe surge, with its housing register exploding by 31 per cent. In a contrasting development, Richmond upon Thames saw its wait list fall by a significant 46 per cent.
A National Emergency
The crisis is not confined to London. Across England, the scale of the need is even more immense. At the end of March, over 1.3 million households were waiting for social housing—a rise of 1 per cent, or 9,833 households, from the previous year. The MHCLG acknowledged this is the highest number of households on housing registers since 2014.
The ministry did note that these registers can be affected by infrequent reviews to remove households who no longer require housing. Consequently, the total figure may overstate the current need, though it remains alarmingly high.
Charity Condemns 'Decades of Failure'
Housing charity Shelter has placed the blame squarely on successive governments. Mairi MacRae, Shelter's Director of Policy and Campaigns, stated that the "severe lack of social homes" has turned a secure home into a "distant dream" for millions.
"For decades, successive governments have failed to build enough genuinely affordable social rent homes, all while rents have rocketed to levels families simply cannot afford," MacRae said. She added that this failure has directly pushed thousands into homelessness, with many forced into inadequate temporary accommodation or moved far from their support networks.
Shelter is demanding concrete action, calling on the government to set a national target and ramp up the building of 90,000 social rent homes a year for ten years to effectively end homelessness.
While the overall picture is bleak, some households do eventually secure housing. Data shows that 56 per cent of households who received social housing in England in 2024-25 had been on the register for less than a year. However, a grim reality persists for others, with 7 per cent waiting for five years and 3 per cent languishing on the list for over a decade.
An MHCLG spokesperson described the figures as "completely unacceptable," attributing the problem to inherited failures. The spokesperson pointed to £39 billion in investment and new measures to empower councils as part of the government's urgent action to deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.
