Social housing waiting list "may double"

Leon Walker, Regen.net, 5 November 2008

The waiting list for social housing could double to five million people by 2010, a local authority umbrella group has warned today.

Home repossessions have risen by 70 per cent since last year and this will accelerate the rate at which citizens join waiting lists, according to the Local Government Association (LGA).

Currently 90,000 people join social housing waiting lists every year, but the LGA expects this figure to rise. Chairman of the LGA environment board Councillor Paul Bettison said: "With the banks overstretching their credit facilities, it could well be the case that in the coming months councils will have to help pick up the pieces as people end up on social housing waiting lists."