Overcrowded Housing in London

Londoners are disproportionately affected by overcrowded housing compared with people living in the rest of England, with severe consequences for their health and wellbeing, particularly children. Overcrowding worsened during the pandemic, with estimates that the overcrowding rate rose to as high as 15 per cent in London making it even more vital that action is taken to alleviate this problem.



The London Assembly Housing Committee held a meeting on 18 January 2022 with a range of experts to discuss the scale of overcrowding in London and the structural challenges, consequences and potential policy options that would help tackle it.



The Committee wrote to the Mayor with its key findings and recommendations. The recommendations include:

• improve data collection so that the true extent of overcrowding in London is known, and so that interventions can be targeted to the people and areas most in need;
• incentivise councils and social landlords to build and acquire homes of all sizes, affordable at or close to LHA, including family-sized homes, including with suitable grant levels;
• tackle the racial inequalities that are systemic in overcrowding in London;
• improve options for helping people who, across all tenures, live in homes that are not the right size for their household, including those who could downsize;
• collect and publish data on downsizing outcomes as a result of new building, particularly where smaller units are intended for use by under-occupiers;
• do more to help improve overall affordability and standards in respect of privately rented homes, so that more families can be housed securely in the PRS;
• work with boroughs to improve access to and awareness of discretionary housing payments for those who need additional support.