Hope for prisoners of overcrowding

It is a victory for decency and a well-deserved result for the sustained lobbying for change by many in the sector – backed by Housing Today's "Right to room" campaign (page 18).

Even the 20 councils with the greatest numbers of affected households want the standard by which overcrowding is measured to be updated. MPs including Sally Keeble, Andy Love, Oona King and Karen Buck also campaigned for change.

Admittedly, a determination to grapple with the problem of overcrowded housing will only add to the burden of councils already struggling to cope with the decent homes standard and rising homelessness.

But as the government rightly trumpeted last week, progress has been made in these two seemingly intractable areas and there's no reason why similar results can't be achieved with overcrowding.

Housing minister Keith Hill has been true to his word and included in the report stage of the Housing Bill the power for the government to update the present definition of overcrowding. It may seem like a small step, but the fact that Hill has accepted the need to crank up the demands on council housing directors should not be underestimated.

Research shows that if the present definition was replaced by a more humane one, such as the "bedroom standard", the number of overcrowded households would rocket from 20,000 to 510,000. It takes guts to take on figures like that.

Progress has been made on decent homes and B&Bs – there’s no reason why the same can’t happen on overcrowding

Hill's approach to date has been entirely sensible: he asked the sector's experts, including the worst affected councils, to explain the problem and has gone to them again for a solution.

What they all agreed on is that the way to tackle the overcrowding crisis – which can only worsen as social housing stock declines – is to set a target, much like that for meeting the decent homes standard or getting people out of B&Bs, and then gradually, but stubbornly, to work towards it. This should mean overcrowding can stand alongside other priorities such as key workers and homelessness, rather than be treated as the poor relation as it is at the moment.

No one would expect councils to be able immediately to rehouse people such as Dee Pinder and her four children, whose situation was highlighted by our campaign. Yet overcrowding's adverse impact on child health and education demands an urgent response.

Although the Housing Bill is not likely to come into effect until early 2005, the ODPM must press on. Hill must ensure that, when the time comes, his department has consulted on what steps it should take and be ready to take them.