Pressure is growing on the government to overhaul the standard by which homes are defined as overcrowded or not.
The councils with the worst overcrowding problem said they would support a change to the standard, which dates from 1935.

Housing Today spoke to the 20 councils in and outside London that, according to the 2001 census and the Association of London Government, have the greatest number of overcrowded homes.

Between them, they have 84,036 households with more than one person per room.

Thirteen of the councils said they wanted to see the standard updated even though they would have to work harder than other authorities if changes were made.

Slough council is the most overcrowded outside the capital with 6% of its households falling short of the 1935 measure. Manju Dhar, manager of private sector housing, said: "It's difficult, but we want to at least try: 1935 was a long time ago and the world is very different."

The ODPM has come under fire from MPs and charities for failing to use the Housing Bill now passing through parliament to update the standard.

However, now these calls have been joined by housing providers such as Tower Hamlets, Newham and Birmingham, the pressure will only grow.

An ODPM spokesman said: "We're still looking at the issue. We gave a commitment to come back on this in the report stage of the Housing Bill and still intend to do this."

Source

Housing Today