One of three boroughs in North London, Barnet had the lowest total waiting list on its housing register at 4,149 households in 2022-23 in the region, giving Barnet the 23rd highest waiting list in London.
Compared to neighbouring Enfield and Haringey, Barnet also has the lowest waiting time for properties of all bedroom sizes, with one-bedroom homes requiring a 462-day wait.
For larger properties, Barnet also has lower waiting times than its North London neighbours. Waiting times for two-bedroom properties in Barnet are, on average, 686 days. This gives the borough the fourth lowest waiting time for a two-bedroom social home in London, behind the City of London, Bromley and Sutton.
Family-sized properties of three bedrooms and four or more bedrooms in Barnet have waiting times of 1,106 and 1,057 days respectively, below the Outer London average.
Wheelchair-adapted properties in Barnet have a waiting list of 721 days. Barnet was one of only eight boroughs who provided specific data for wheelchair-adapted homes. Other boroughs may have incorporated wheelchair-adapted homes into their standard housing allocations policy. Among boroughs who provided specific data, Enfield has the highest waiting time at 1,643 days while Havering has the lowest at 358 days.
Further analysis shows Barnet has the 21st highest number of social homes in London, managed both by the local authority and private registered providers at 19,439 homes. The borough is equally the ninth least densely populated borough in London with 4,822 residents per square km.
Barnet Council’s housing allocation policy identifies four bands of priority of reasonable preference, with Band 1 for households with the most urgent housing need and Band 4 for reduced priority. Allocations are assessed based on household circumstances, as well as whether they have made a Community Contribution, which includes members of the Armed Forces and ex-council service workers.
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.