Merton has the 11th highest waiting list in London at 10,070 households on the local authority housing register. This total has increased substantially since 2010 when 6,354 households were on the council’s waiting list.
This total also gives Merton the longest waiting list in South London, followed closely by neighbouring Wandsworth with 9,793 households. In comparison with other Outer London boroughs, Merton has the fourth highest waiting list.
Due to gaps in the data provided to us by the council, we were unable to analyse Merton’s waiting times, due in part to the council operating a choice-based lettings system which makes the calculation of waiting times difficult to process.
According to official statistics, Merton manages 83 council houses having transferred more than 6,000 homes to Clarion Housing Group in 2010. However, the council’s website states that Merton does not directly own any council housing stock, which would make it one of two local authorities to not directly own council housing in London, along with Richmond upon Thames.
Merton Council’s housing allocations policy operates a hybrid points-based system of eight bands reflecting priority need for households grouped by their category of reasonable preference. Bands A-D are highest priority households reflecting exceptional housing need and are allocated housing on a date basis. Bands B-H are assessed through awarding points based on severity of reasonable preference, which includes health and welfare risks, overcrowding and poor housing quality.
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.