In 2022-23, Islington had the sixth highest waiting list in London with 15,742 households on the local authority housing register. The borough also has the second highest waiting list in Central London, below Lambeth with 35,924 households. However, more recent data from the borough suggests its housing register has increased to more than 16,700 households.
Islington is similar to other Central London boroughs in having high waiting times for social homes of all bedroom sizes, with one-bedroom properties having an average waiting time of 1,643 days. In comparison to other councils for which we have comparable data, this is the highest waiting time for a one-bedroom property in Central London and third highest for London overall. For two-bedroom properties, Islington has a waiting time of 1,825 days.
Larger, family-sized properties of three bedrooms and four or more bedrooms have waiting times of 2,190 days. While these are high (six years for both property sizes), they are lower compared to other Central London boroughs: neighbouring Hackney has especially high waiting times of 6,388 days and 11,954 days respectively.
Overall, Islington has the joint eighth highest waiting list for a three-bedroom property in London (shared with Camden) and is joint tenth for homes with four or more bedrooms (shared with Wandsworth).
The borough has a relatively large number of social homes, both managed by the local authority and by private registered providers. According to the latest data on dwelling stock, Islington Council manages 25,357 council houses, the second highest portfolio in London behind Southwark on 37,916.
Islington’s housing need may be influenced by its high population density, being the second most densely populated borough in London at 16,626 residents per square km. This is surpassed only by Tower Hamlets with 17,257 residents per square km.
Islington Council operates a hybrid points-based system which separates homelessness applications and transfers from standard waiting list applications for existing tenants and new housing register applicants. Islington operates a choice-based lettings system but this is restricted in capacity due to high demand. A higher total of points for register applications corresponds to greater priority for allocations. The system operates 14 groups of reasonable preference ranging from health and welfare needs, statutory homelessness status, whether households are care leavers, management transfers or decants for housing works. The system also grants additional points based on the length of time a household has waited for a social home, adding 5% to an application total per year.
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.