In 2022-23, Southwark had the ninth largest social housing waiting list in London with 11,893 households on the local authority’s housing register. However, more recent data provided by the council suggests its housing register could have increased to around 18,100 households.
Comparatively, Southwark’s waiting list sits below the sub-regional average for Central London (12,229) with neighbouring Lambeth having the highest total in the region at more than 36,900 households.
Southwark’s waiting times for one-bedroom properties are close to the average for Central London boroughs (1,008 days) at 1,101 days while being the eighth highest in London overall. The borough’s closest comparison in the region for one-bedroom properties is Lambeth on 1,217 days. For two-bedroom properties, Southwark’s waiting time increases to 1,835 days, the fifth highest in London.
For larger properties with three bedrooms, Southwark contrasts with the wider pan-London trend with a slightly shorter waiting time of 1,732 days than for smaller properties. This places the borough as having the 15th highest waiting time for this property size in London, and the second lowest in Central London behind the City of London on 1,142 days.
However, for properties with four or more bedrooms, Southwark’s waiting times increase substantially to 3,803 days, or around 10 years and five months. This is the second highest waiting time for a property of this size in London, though remains below Hackney’s waiting time of 11,954 days, or more than 32 years.
Among the local authorities which provided waiting times for wheelchair-adapted properties, Southwark has the fourth highest waiting time for these properties at 1,040 days. However, due to the differences in housing allocation policies and the fact that we were unable to secure data for all boroughs, this finding should be treated with caution.
Southwark has the highest number of social homes in London, with the local authority managing 37,916 homes directly and private registered providers managing 17,754 homes. With the highest housing stock in London, this is reflected marginally in the borough’s waiting times, particularly for three-bedroom homes.
Southwark’s housing allocations policy assigns a level of priority according to household circumstances, which includes issues such as overcrowding, health and welfare concerns or statutory homelessness duty status. A household is then assigned a ‘priority star’ if the circumstances are more urgent. Priority for allocation is also calculated through length of time on the register.
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.