Families waiting to be housed for more than a decade fear drop in larger council homes

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

Families stuck on a council’s housing waiting list for more than a decade have expressed concern about an apparent drop in the number of larger social homes available.

The Lambeth residents, who are among the more than 35,000 households on the borough’s housing waiting list, claim there used to be about a dozen three and four-bedroom properties on the council’s bidding platform every month.

But recently the families, who are either living in overcrowded conditions or staying outside of the borough far from their workplaces and children’s schools, said they were now lucky if a single three or four-bedroom flat appears each month. 

Consuelo Gutierrez Collazo said she has moved between temporary accommodation six times in the 10 years she has been waiting for a council house in Lambeth. 

The 41-year-old, who is currently living in an outer London borough with her three children, aged 10, six and four, said: “The situation is stressful.

“Last week, there was one three-bedroom flat but there are hundreds bidding on the same property. The chance of getting the property is very low.”

Ms Gutierrez Collazo said her boys sometimes struggle to get to their Lambeth school on time from their current flat due to the more than two-hour commute. 

She said: “A permanent house would be a big improvement. It would make taking the kids to school and going to work much easier.”

Marianela Ramos Apiricio, who has been waiting 11 years for a council house, said the drop in suitable homes was a ‘very bad’ development.

The 33-year-old currently pays £1,600 per month for a two-bedroom flat she rents off a private landlord in Wandsworth and shares with her daughter, 13, and son, 11.

She said: “At the moment, it’s a struggle. There’s usually just one property that has three bedrooms in a month, sometimes zero. A property a month is not enough for all the people needing one.”

Esther King, who lives in a two-bedroom flat with her husband and five children, has been waiting for a four-bedroom council home in Lambeth since 2004.

The 46-year-old said she first noticed a drop in the number of larger properties becoming available after the Covid-19 pandemic, and said the problem had worsened since.

She said: “It’s sometimes three months – no four bedroom properties. Sometimes eight months – no four bedroom properties. There are clearly not enough houses.”

Lambeth council said that ‘huge demand and limited supply’ meant these larger homes were being ‘allocated quicker than ever’ and spending ‘less time on the bidding system’.

But Liz Wyatt of housing support group Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth (HASL) believes that in an attempt to reduce the number of families in temporary accommodation, the council was making more direct offers of social housing to families in temporary housing.

This means fewer homes are available to bid on through the council’s bidding platform, Ms Wyatt said. Lambeth council did not respond to these claims.

Around 4,800 Lambeth households are currently in temporary accommodation, which the council says is often of ‘sub-standard’ quality. Ms Wyatt said that while HASL wasn’t opposed to the Labour-run council making direct offers in ‘exceptional circumstances’, she said there was ‘no guarantee’ social homes allocated in this way were ‘going to those with the highest housing need’.

A Lambeth council spokesman said: “The shortage of family-sized accommodation and the need to use temporary accommodation is driving our need to make huge savings as a council.

“Homeless households supported by the council have increased by 50 per cent in the last two years and the cost of housing homeless households in overnight accommodation is expected to reach £100million this year.

“It’s not just Lambeth that this is impacting. London councils have reported that London boroughs are forecast to overspend on their original budget plans for this financial year by more than £700 million. Homelessness represents the largest single driver of London boroughs’ current financial pressures.”

Pictured top: Members of Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth (HASL), a housing support group in South London (Picture: Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth)