Croydon has the third highest waiting list in South London at 6,979 households on the council’s housing register. This is less than neighbouring Wandsworth and Merton which have 9,793 and 10,070 households on their respective housing registers. Croydon has the 18th highest waiting list across all London boroughs.
However, more recent data from the borough suggests its housing register could have increased to more than 8,100.
Owing to gaps in the data, we were unable to analyse Croydon’s waiting times, due in part to the council operating a choice-based lettings system which makes the calculation of waiting times difficult to process.
Official statistics show that Croydon’s housing register has gradually grown since 2017 when 5,138 households were on the council’s waiting list. The council also has one of the most evenly distributed social housing stocks in London between council-managed and by private registered providers at 13,454 homes and 13,826 homes respectively.
Croydon’s housing allocations policy consists of three bands with Band 1 households given the highest priority for social housing and Band 3 for lower priority applications. Band 2 applications includes households with increased priority due to a member of the household in work, training, a registered foster carer or adoptive parent, or has engaged with Croydon Council’s homelessness Gateway Service. Band 1 typically includes households with people with urgent health or welfare needs, living in unsanitary conditions, or living in overcrowded accommodation. Band 3 applies the same evidence base but to a moderate or less severe need, including households who are awarded a statutory homelessness duty but living in temporary accommodation.
Sources:
- Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Local Authority Housing Statistics data returns for 2022 to 2023
- Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Live tables on rents, lettings and tenancies; numbers of households on local authorities’ housing waiting lists, by district, England, from 1987
- Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Live tables on dwelling stock (including vacants); Dwelling stock by local authority and region, England, 2009-2023
- Office for National Statistics, Mid-Year Population Estimates, England and Wales, June 2023
- Greater London Authority, Land Area and Population Density, Ward and Borough data for 2023
- Sub-regions as defined by The London Plan
*A note on data sources. In order to provide comparisons of different local authorities total waiting lists, due to some boroughs not providing up to date information on the number of people on their social housing register we have used the most recent data (2022-23) published by MHCLG. Where boroughs provided us with more recent data, we have noted this.