The full extent of the housing crisis blighting England has been laid bare by new research showing that an estimated 8.4 million people are living in an unaffordable, insecure or unsuitable home. This is equivalent to one in seven of the population.

The National Housing Federation research, carried out by Heriot-Watt University, found the housing crisis is adversely affecting all ages across every part of the country. The researchers found:

• 3.6 million people are living in an overcrowded home;
• 2.5 million are unable to afford their rent or mortgage;
• 2.5 million are in “hidden households” they cannot afford to move out of, including house shares, adults living with their parents, or people living with an ex-partner;
• 1.7 million are in unsuitable housing such as older people stuck in homes they cannot get around and families in properties which have no outside space;
• 1.4 million are in poor quality homes; and
• 400,000 are homeless or at risk of homelessness – including people sleeping rough, living in homeless shelters, temporary accommodation or sofa-surfing.

The figures are higher than some official statistics and some people may have more than one of these housing problems, the federation said. Their members provide roughly 2.5 million homes for more than six million people.

Researchers at Heriot-Watt used data from the annual Understanding Society survey of 40,000 people by the University of Essex, which was then scaled up to reflect England’s total population of nearly 56 million.

The south region is the one which is worst affected with 2.6 million suffering from one or more of the identified problems, which affects 2.2 million in the north, 2.1 million in London and 1.6 million in the Midlands.

The report also estimated that around 3.6 million people (living in 2.1 million households) could only afford to live decently if they were in social housing – almost double the number on the Government’s official social housing waiting list.

Cheaper homes needed

Social housing rents are on average 50 per cent cheaper than from private landlords, tenancies are generally more secure and many properties are designed specifically for older people with mobility issues, the federation said.

It said the country needs 340,000 new homes every year, including 145,000 social homes, to meet the housing demand. It has produced a costed plan to deliver this for an investment of £12.8bn a year for the next ten years.

Kate Henderson, Chief Executive at the National Housing Federation, called for “a return to the proper funding for social housing”. She said the research revealed the full enormity of the housing crisis. “Clearly, it is the single biggest domestic issue we face.”

“From Cornwall to Cumbria, millions of people are being pushed into debt and poverty because rent is too expensive, children can’t study because they have no space in their overcrowded homes, and many older or disabled people are struggling to move around their own home because it’s unsuitable,” she said.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said in 2018 the Government built more homes than in all but one of the last 31 years.

“Since 2010 we’ve delivered 430,000 affordable homes and to protect renters we’ve cracked down on rogue landlords, banned unfair fees and capped deposits, saving at least £240m a year – helping to ensure access to safe and secure housing for millions,” said the spokesman.

Responding for Labour, the former housing minister John Healey said that “deep cuts to housing investment since 2010 mean the country is now building 30,000 fewer social rented homes each year than we were with Labour.”

He claimed a Labour government would build a million low-cost homes over ten years, “give renters the rights they deserve and end rough sleeping within five years”.

People were considered to be living in overcrowded homes if a child had to share their bedroom with two or more children, sleep in the same room as their parents, or share with a teenager who was not the same sex as them.

Homes where an adult had to share their bedroom with someone other than a partner were also considered overcrowded.

By Patrick Mooney, Editor