Social housing waiting list up 100,000

Meanwhile Communities and Local Government (CLG) said 1.77 million families were on the waiting list for a local authority property in April 2008. This number is 100,000 more households than 12 months earlier. The figure represents 8.4 per cent of all households and is the highest number recorded since 1997. Despite the rise in demand, the government admitted that the number of council-owned homes plummeted 117,000 during 2008 to 1.87 million. The Local Government Association said one family in every 12 is now on a council waiting list, and believe this figure will rise as the number of people losing jobs and being unable to afford mortgage payments increase. CLG argues that council housing waiting lists are not an accurate guide to the number of families in urgent housing need.