How do you get social housing in London?

[HappyNewTaxYear]

Just that really. How do you get on a list? How long are the lists?

Why does your ds need a council flat op?

Proof of this as policy?

Yep.

Near me in a former office block hastily adapted. Shared communal bathrooms.

And as there are no social housing vacancies they stay there. Or get put in HMOs in the private sector.

Gosh this has become an anti women anti migrants thread 🤦🏻‍♀️

Who’d have thunk it…
After such an innocent OP.

I think it depends on the area of the country. Single parents, especially with disabilities (either the adult or the child), will go to the top of this list. But will still have to wait and may end up in temporary accommodation such as a hotel. One thing I have seen (on social media) is an adult with one child, who was evicted from a property (not sure why), went to live with her father (the child's grandfather). They were assessed by social services and deemed homeless; they only had a 7-month wait for a 2-bed property, which she now plans to buy (I stopped following her account after this). This was in the North of England. In London/ SE, I presume it is a very long wait. As a single man, with no or minimal health needs, he won't be a priority, I'm afraid.

’need’ means are they vulnerable. Do they have a vulnerability that means they’re any less capable of sorting themselves out that the average person. And would they be any more vulnerable if homeless.

So children, those fleeing abuse, fleeing county lines, mental illness, physical disability, learning disability, care leavers, in some cases institution leavers (prison) COULD make a case that they are in need of assistance, as vulnerable.

An adult, male or female, who is low on money but able to work and able to search for properties on the private rental market wouldn’t be considered in ‘need’ of council assistance.

You would need to be working & living in London to register - preferably homeless from your last address - & go through all alternative options, shelters, hotels (at your own expense), house shares ect.

& Yes. You will be lower priority if your not a parent/disabled/immigrant (in crises)

The immigrant bashing/single mum bashing didn’t take long.

Stop with the hateful BS.

What you have said is wrong but you will continue to spout your vitriol.

@HappyNewTaxYear going back back to your original question, a little more information about your son's situation would help.

You mentioned he has to relocate to London for a new job. Is this a professional/ graduate job with a salary to match? What's his budget for accommodation & where's his job located?

Would he consider the care and share accommodation arrangement that I previously mentioned? It's a great way to get low cost accommodation in exchange for providing some low key care to an older person.

https://www.shareandcare.co.uk/

Wrong in every level.
What makes you so bitter and malicious to spread fake crap which adds to a fake narrative derived to pit us against each other?

The London borough I live in - being band 3 which is homeless priority it takes around 6 years to be housed. To even be placed on the list you need to have a housing need. If you are able to afford to rent privately (based on your household income) you cannot join the list. And if you do meet the criteria you still need to have lived in the borough for 5 years.

so pretty much impossible to be housed

I know - I really hoped it wouldn’t go that way as I was asking for facts, nothing else. I suppose it shows what a very sensitive topic housing is.

I didn’t say that he needed a council flat. He will have to rent privately. I just wanted to know how social housing works in London. Obviously there’s an acute shortage of it, I know that, but I wondered how the existing stock is allocated.

OP Each London borough has it's own housing allocation policy but due to low levels of social housing being built the waiting lists are very long. In my borough you have to be resident here for at least 3 years due to increase to 5 shortly to even be considered.

Then there are additional criteria which puts you into one of 3 bands. In reality there is band 1- highest priority and band 2 - high priority but can wait. band 3 is over a 10 year wait and basically means the council will not be housing you.

However if you have children, come out of care/military you can be placed into temporary housing anywhere (not even in the borough) and then you continue to wait for housing.

Temporary housing in recent times means converted office buildings, with no outside space, shared facilities and families having to share 1 or 2 rooms.

I think at last count there were over 8000 households on the waiting list with average times to be houses around 6 years.

If you are not even on the list as yet. There is fat chance of getting anything and if you are single/have no children and no vulnerabilities then you have zero chance and have to look for private housing (HMO's).

There is an increasing number of homeless single people and the hostels are all at bursting point.

Your DC might be better off looking at shared ownership or rent to buy schemes, if he can save enough for a deposit.

https://www.gov.uk/rent-to-buy

15 years ago I got on a list with Peabody & pretty much immediately got a studio flat in central London. I was a key worker & ‘homeless’ (staying on a friends sofa), no idea why that was so quick 🤔

I got my London council flat through a mutual exchange (was allocated a council house in another English city due to leaving DV). That was years ago, but I know several families who have been given council tenancies within the past 5 years also due to DV, and others due to having disabled children. I know one person without children who has a council flat, she was a care leaver, and another who has a history of severe MH issues.

Everyone I know in a London council flat has been in some kind of priority category - none of them were allocated based just on waiting time, so the stats about the length of waiting lists is a bit irrelevant. Most of them aren't waiting that long, but they have been able to get allocated quicker than others who have been waiting longer, because their needs were more urgent.
And it means that none of us are "lucky" to be in council housing - we've all had rather unlucky lives in one way or another.

So before you can apply for SH you need to meet the eligibility criteria which first and foremost is a ‘local connection’ - meaning you are either living in the area already or you have parents or siblings within that local authority area, or you have a full time contract of employment in said area.
You also need to earn under the threshold set within that area and have savings below a certain amount ( in my area it’s under 32k salary per annum for a single person) London may be more.
You can apply and create an account for SH whereby you will be given a banding depending on need A-D. A being the highest. It’s all about prioritising need -

Roughly
Band A - Yop priority for SH

Care Leavers,
Veterans,
Pregnant women who need to leave their current accommodation
Those already in temporary accommodation, waiting for housing due to eviction, or act of god eg flooding /fire
People escaping DV or families moved due to threat to life ( child exploitation/gangs/ stalking)
Asylum seekers who have been given right to remain
Type 1 diabetic homeless - they need a fridge to store insulin
Child over 1 in a first floor or above, flat
Disabilites that mean current accommodation unsuitable eg stairs /access

Band B
families who are overcrowded- needing an extra bedroom as only two kids can share past 10 if opposite sex, and only two allowed per room of same sex also

Notice and threat of eviction

Band C
Circumstances such as an autistic child needing own room preferably rather than sharing
Anti social behaviour where you currently live
in fairness not much different to a Band D in reality

Band D
You are in housing already with parents or renting or staying with friends and have a home

Unless your son is a care leaver or a veteran, an asylum
seeker in temporary accommodation. with leave to remain, pregnant, about to be evicted or has significant disabilities it is highly unlikely he will get SH especially in London

About 80% of boat arrival asylum applications get approved, as per public information. This then gives priority for social housing application. Not taking side here, but explains why around half London council tenants are foreign born.

where did you get your info from @Papricat

In London council housing, a significant percentage of lead tenants are White, although Black and Asian households are over-represented and under-represented, respectively, compared to the general population. In 2021/22, 81% of new lettings were to White tenants, while 8% were to Black tenants and 5% to Asian tenants. However, Black households were over-represented in new social housing lettings, making up 8% of lettings compared to 4% of the English population. Asian households were under-represented, constituting 5% of lettings but 10% of the population.

https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2023-12/Housing%20Research%20Note%207%20-%20Who%20moves%20into%20social%20housing%20in%20London.pdf#:~:text=In%202019/20%20there%20were%2024%2C437%20general%20needs,in%20London%2C%20for%20a%20total%20of%2034%2C088.&text=6.9%2074%%20of%20households%20moving%20into%20general,50%%20of%20households%20in%20the%20general%20population.

And this

x.com/mehdirhasan/status/1847290648589705391?s=46

OP one of your earlier messages should also give you a clue about the reason for lack of housing. Right to Buy. Council Housing was sold off and no replacements built.