Brent has the third highest waiting list for social housing in London with over 28,000 households on the local authority housing register. It also has the highest waiting list for Outer London and the West London sub-region. Its nearest comparison in West London is Ealing with 12,669 households on its waiting list.
Despite having a disproportionately large waiting list compared to other London boroughs, Brent has the second shortest waiting time for one-bedroom properties in London at 292 days. The borough also has the sixth lowest waiting time for properties with two bedrooms at 803 days.
These shorter than average times do not extend to larger properties however, with households waiting 1,752 days for three-bedroom properties. For homes with four or more bedrooms, households wait 2,993 days to be allocated, making it the fifth highest waiting time for this property size in London.
Brent Council manages a below average number of social homes at 8,855 properties, making it the 11th largest social landlord of all London boroughs. Since 2010, Brent’s council housing stock has decreased by 3.9% with the majority of social homes managed by private registered providers, with a combined housing stock of more than 19,200 homes.
Brent Council’s housing allocation policy identifies five bands of priority of reasonable preference, with Band 1 for households with emergency and urgent housing need, including cases of severe unsanitary conditions, under-occupation and decants, as well as emergency management transfer. The council has two bands for homeless households based on whether their circumstances reflect a statutory duty for homelessness relief or prevention.
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.