Four in five councils have decade-long waiting lists for social homes as Lib Dems call for planning reforms 

EMBARGO: 22:30 Tuesday 20th August

• The Lib Dems have called for local authorities to be able to buy land at cheaper prices to help them deliver more social homes

• Four in five (82%) of councils have people on their waiting lists for social housing who have waited more than 10 years

• The number on social housing waiting lists has jumped by more than 13% since 2018/19 as council social housing stock falls

More than four in five councils have people waiting over a decade on their social housing waiting lists, Liberal DemocratFreedom of Information requests (FOI) have revealed. 

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to support local authorities, who currently have to pay higher rates for land to build on. The party has called for local authorities to buy land at cheaper rates by reforming the current Land Compensation Act. Councils have to buy land for their hope value, instead of their current value, preventing social homes from being built on available land. 

119 councils responded to the FOI on their longest waiter on a social housing waiting list, with 98 of those councils saying that they had someone who had been waiting for longer than a decade. 

The Liberal Democrat FOIs also asked for the number of people on each council’s social housing waiting list. 84 councils responded with complete data between 2018/19 and 2023/24. They showed that social housing waiting lists have grown by 13.4% over the six years, from 325,395 to 368,975, a nearly 44,000 increase.

The largest social housing waiting list increase was in Gateshead which spiked from 7,115 in 2018/19 to 14,370 in the last financial year.

Six other councils have also seen their waiting list numbers more than double since 2018/19 for example Oadby and Wigston saw an increase from 355 to 1,013. More than 75% of the councils who responded have seen their waiting lists for social housing increase over the last six years. 

The data follows Michael Gove as Housing Secretary forfeiting hundreds of millions of pounds back to the Treasury that was earmarked for housing projects. 

Liberal Democrats Housing spokesperson, Helen Morgan MP said:

“These figures are staggering and should act as a wake-up call. The security of a roof over your head is vital for families, that’s why ministers need to put family needs over developer greed.” 

“The government must step in to help out local councils who want to build social homes but are hamstrung by a broken planning system which prices them out of buying land. Cash-strapped councils also need the funds to be able to build. 

“The Conservative government made the housing crisis worse by allowing greedy developers to get their way and fail to build the actual homes we need. It is time for change with genuinely affordable housing and a wave of new social homes.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

The Liberal Democrat FOI data on social housing can be found here.

FOI questions: (Many councils did not provide data dating back to 2015/16 so data from 2018/19 was used)

What is the waiting list for social housing in your Local Authority for each financial year since 2015/16?

What is the longest time (in days) that someone has been on your social housing waiting list as it stands?

What is your net loss or gain of the number of social homes in your Local Authority for each financial year since 2015/16?