Sharp rise in numbers living in severely overcrowded housing, new figures reveal

The figures, contained in the 2002/03 ODPM Survey of English Housing, published this week, came as the government was expected to unveil a long-awaited consultation paper on overcrowded housing later this month.

The paper – called for as part of Housing Today’s “right to room” campaign earlier this year (see logo) – is thought to centre around altering the present standard for measuring overcrowded homes. This standard, unchanged since 1935, states that kitchens and living rooms can be counted as “sleeping accommodation”. Under the standard, children under one do not count and those under 10 count as only half a person.

The new figures – which show levels of overcrowding have topped half a million – will increase pressure on the government to do more. As Housing Today argued in its campaign, living in severely overcrowded housing has been strongly linked to incidences of tuberculosis, breathing disorders such as asthma and behavioural problems.

The area most badly hit by the rise in severe overcrowding is London with 30,000 households falling into this category.

A spokesman for the Association of London Government said: “The figures show a marked acceleration in an already worrying trend.”

Karen Buck, MP for Regent’s Park and Kensington North, said: “It is obvious to anyone working in housing in London that we are facing an overcrowding crisis. I hope the consultation will set out a staged approach to dealing with the overcrowding problem and set a reduction target for say five years’ time.”

The latest figures follow a Housing Corporation announcement last week that it would be pressing the ODPM to change its funding rules so as to not promote the construction of smaller homes. Corporation chief executive Jon Rouse said he was exploring changing the rules to encourage associations to focus on providing more large family homes in areas of severe overcrowding and not just on building a large number of smaller units.

An ODPM spokesman said: “There is an amendment in the Housing Bill to allow us to change the 1935 standard. We will, of course, continue to look at what we can do about the issue overall.”

The survey of English housing also found a quarter of people with disabilities lived in property not suited to their needs, and 1.4 million need homes adapted to their disability.