At the heart of London, Camden has the 17th highest waiting list across all London boroughs and fourth highest for Central London with 7,423 households on the council’s housing register.
However, more recent data from the borough suggests this could have increased to more than 7,800.
Unsurprisingly, due to its high population density of 12,047 residents per square km, and its central location, Camden’s highest waiting times are for properties with three bedrooms and four or more bedrooms at 2,190 days and 2,957 days respectively.
However, it is notable that for one bedroom properties Camden has the third shortest waiting time of Central London boroughs at 694 days. This is compared to neighbouring Westminster on 509 days and the City of London on 643 days.
Compared to the average across Central London boroughs, Camden has lower waiting times for smaller properties with one or two bedrooms at 694 days and 1,168 days respectively. However, like other neighbouring boroughs in Central London, Camden’s waiting times for larger, family-sized properties are much higher. A three-bedroom home in Camden has an average wait time of 2,190 while properties with four or more bedrooms have waiting times of 2,957 days.
Camden Council manages the fourth highest number of council homes in London at 22,773 properties. Across all social housing provider stock, Camden has the eighth largest number of social homes in London at 34,616.
Wheelchair-adapted properties in Camden have a waiting time of 621 days. Camden 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.
Camden Council operates a points-based system with eight groups reflecting statutory definitions of reasonable preference for housing allocations. A higher total of points corresponds to greater priority for allocations. Points are allocated according to different categories of reasonable preference including statutory homelessness status, insanitary housing, overcrowding, health and welfare risks, and social support requirements.
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.