Newham has the second highest waiting list for social housing in London with 36,625 households on the local authority’s housing register. The borough has the highest waiting list of any East London borough followed by Tower Hamlets with 23,609 households. However, more recent data from the borough suggests its housing register could have decreased to around 27,400 households.
Newham’s waiting times for social housing are also high with the wait for a one-bedroom property standing at 1,432 days. This is the fifth highest waiting time for a one-bedroom property in London below Lewisham with the highest time of 2,208 days. This comparatively high waiting time does not extend, however, to properties with two bedrooms where Newham has the 21st highest in London at 962 days. This is the second lowest waiting time for a two-bedroom property in Inner London behind the City of London with 516 days. Compared with other East London boroughs, this also places Newham as the second lowest behind Havering on 920 days.
For larger properties with three bedrooms, Newham remains below the London average at 1,646 days, making it the fifth lowest in East London with Bexley having the lowest at 661 days. Furthermore, the borough goes against the wider, pan-London trend for larger properties of four or more bedrooms in having a lower waiting time than for three bedrooms at 1,301 days. This gives Newham the 19th highest waiting time for this property type in London, and fourth in East London behind Bexley on 550 days.
As London’s 11th most densely populated borough with 10,291 residents per square km, Newham has the ninth highest number of social homes, both council-managed and with private registered providers, at 30,647 homes. This is the fifth highest total stock in East London with Hackney in first with 41,878 homes.
Newham Council’s housing allocations policy operates a choice-based letting system of nine bands which reflects their general priority. Housing applicants are assigned to one of five groups representing their category of reasonable preference, which includes households with medical or welfare risks, care leavers, and council service employees. The group system is also used to assess applications for direct housing allocations where urgent or high priority housing need is raised.
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.