Hounslow’s housing register total is below the London average at 7,899 households while also being the 15th longest waiting list across all London boroughs. Compared to its regional neighbours, Hounslow has the third highest waiting list in West London, below Brent on 28,088 households and Ealing with 12,669.
For West London, Hounslow has the second highest waiting time for a one-bedroom property at 684 days, surpassed only by Richmond upon Thames on 1,087 days. The borough also has the second highest waiting time for a two-bedroom property in West London at 1,186 days, below Harrow on 1,204 days.
Larger properties of three bedrooms have a waiting time of 2,008 days, giving Hounslow the third highest waiting time for this property type in West London. For social homes with four or more bedrooms, waiting time is substantially longer at 3,650 days, making Hounslow the third highest waiting time for properties of this size in London, below Hackney on 11,954 days and Southwark on 3,803.
The local authority manages13,807 homes and other registered providers manage 8,812. With a total of 22,619 social homes, this places Hounslow below the London average at 24,761 but above the average for local authority managed stock of 11,839.
Hounslow’s housing allocations policy is operated through three bands reflecting housing priority. Categories of reasonable preference, as defined by the Housing Act 1996, are assessed in accordance with individual circumstances. Band A is for the highest priority applications while Band C is for low priority moves.
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.