Friday, February 01, 2019

Overcrowded Homes

Overcrowding in social housing has increased to the highest level since government records began 24 years ago with more than 300,000 households in England squeezed into too few rooms, official figures have revealed.

More than a quarter of a million households are also living in overcrowded private rented housing, which is the second highest level recorded since 1996, the English Housing Survey revealed.

It means at least 1 million people in rented homes are enduring overcrowding.

Increasing numbers of younger people at an age when they are bringing up young families are likely to be affected by the squeeze. The proportion of 35- to 44-year-olds in the private rented sector has more than doubled in the past decade from 13% in 2007-08 to 28% in 2017-18.

Overcrowding rates are now eight times higher in social housing and six times higher in private rented accommodation than among owner-occupiers, who are far more likely to have two or more spare bedrooms.
Ten per cent of homes in the social rented sector were underoccupied compared with 54% of owner-occupied homes.

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