Figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show that the number of households waiting for social housing from London council hit an 11-year high last year.

A councils' group has called for more social housing to be built amid a growing national shortage of social homes.

The figures show there were 336,366 households waiting for a social home from London councils as of March 2024 - rising from 323,637 a year earlier and the highest figure since 2013, when there were 344,294 people waiting.

These figures only cover council waiting lists, and do not include privately provided social housing.

The data suggests there could be 1.3 million households on council waiting lists across England as of March, although some households may have been counted twice if they have applied to multiple councils.

This was a 3 per cent rise from 2023 and a 13 per cent rise from March 2020.

According to the data, in the borough of Richmond Upon Thames, 5,327 residents are on social housing waiting lists.

While this may seem like a lot, Kingston is actually at the lower end of the spectrum, with Brent, Lambeth, and Newsham being at the top, all having over 30,000 people on the list.

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