As London’s fourth most densely populated borough at 13,465 residents per square km, Kensington and Chelsea’s social housing waiting list is smaller than other Central London boroughs. In 2022-23, Kensington and Chelsea had 3,022 households on its housing register. However, more recent data from the borough suggests its housing register could have decreased to around 2,900 households.
Similar to other Central London boroughs, Kensington and Chelsea has high waiting times for social housing. A one-bedroom property has an average waiting time of 1,253 days while two-bedroom homes have longer waiting times of 1,528 days.
For one-bedroom properties, the borough has the second highest waiting time in Central London behind Islington on 1,643 days, while for two-bedroom homes Kensington and Chelsea is third behind Lambeth on 2,336 days and Islington on 1,825.
Larger, family-sized properties, unsurprisingly, have higher waiting times. A three-bedroom home in Kensington and Chelsea has a waiting time of 2,152 days. This is the fifth highest waiting time for three-bedroom homes in Central London, with Westminster having the highest at 2,599 days. Four or more-bedroom homes in Kensington and Chelsea have an average waiting time of 3,239 days – the highest in Central London and fourth highest in London overall.
Kensington and Chelsea has the lowest amount of social housing of any Central London borough, excluding the City of London. The local authority is responsible for managing 6,930 council houses while private registered providers manage 12,734 social homes. Overall, the borough has the 20th largest social housing stock in London.
The borough operates a points-based housing allocations policy similar to other London boroughs assessing housing need, applied to a banding system. Band 1 is for households with the most acute housing need and exceptional priority, which includes households from Grenfell Tower. Band 2 is considered a major priority for functional changes such as downsizing, health and housing independence, and decants to facilitate the development of more homes. Band 3 households are of moderate priority and reflect overcrowding or those with main statutory homelessness duty. Band 4 is Kensington and Chelsea’s general priority households with less urgent housing need. Categories of reasonable preference are allocated points values with additional points granted for service personnel and for council service employees.
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.