This content applies to England only.

The question of who gets and who doesn't get social housing provokes heated discussion.

Overall, 18 per cent of all households in England live in social housing.[1] Among them, however, households with certain characteristics are over-represented:

• single parents: 44 per cent of lone parents live in social housing [2]
• older people: 21 per cent of people over 65 live in social housing, 24 per cent of people aged 75 or over live in social housing [3]
• ethnic minorities: 26 per cent of ethnic minority households live in social housing [4]
• economically inactive: 60 per cent of social housing tenants are economically inactive (31 per cent are retired and 29 per cent are otherwise economically inactive) [5]
• unemployed: 6 per cent of social housing tenants are unemployed [6]

There are also large numbers of disabled people, and people on housing benefit living in social housing. Vulnerable groups are concentrated in the social housing sector, where there are low rates of employment and low income levels:

• The median gross income for households in social housing in 2007/08 was £10,900, compared with £23,320 for households across all tenures. [7]
• 44 per cent of households in social housing have an annual income of less than £10,000. [8]
• Only 7 per cent of all households in social housing have a gross annual income of £30,000 or above. [9]

How is social housing allocated?

The main factors that determine whether an individual or family is offered social housing are:

• availability of social housing: this varies throughout the country - for example, in London and the South East demand for social housing massively outstrips supply.
• eligibility: to be offered social housing, an applicant must be eligible to apply. People will not be eligible for an allocation if they are subject to immigration control (ie they require permission to enter or remain in the UK), or they do have a right to live in the UK but have recently returned to the UK after spending a significant amount of time living abroad.

In some cases, an applicant may also be ineligible for an allocation if the local authority believes that any member of their household is guilty of unacceptable behaviour that is serious enough to make her/him unsuitable to be a council tenant.

Housing allocation policies

All local authorities are free to set their own housing allocation policy as long as it conforms to certain legal guidelines. By law, local authorities must clearly set out procedures and priorities by which social housing will be allocated and ensure that information on these policies is made publicly available. Local authorities must also ensure that the following groups are given 'reasonable preference' under any allocation scheme:

• people who are legally classed as homeless (or threatened with homelessness): the law classes a person as homeless when they have no home that is available and reasonable to occupy
• people occupying unsanitary, overcrowded or otherwise unsatisfactory housing
• people who need to move for medical or welfare reasons
• people who need to move to a particular location: for example, to be nearer to special training opportunities or special medical facilities and who would suffer hardship if they were unable to do so.

Most local authorities operate points-based systems, taking into account how long applicants have been on a waiting list for social housing (officially known as a housing register), their level of housing need, and other designated priorities.

Housing associations operate their own waiting lists and lettings policies, although they are expected to make a proportion of their lettings available to applicants approved by local authorities.

[1] Survey of English Housing, Preliminary Report: 2007/08, CLG, 2009.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Housing Statistics 2008, CLG, 2009

[4] Survey of English Housing, Preliminary Report: 2007/08, CLG, 2009.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Survey of English Housing, Prelimary Report: 2007/08, CLG, 2009.

[7] Data supplied by CLG, 2009.

[8] Family Resources Survey, DWP.

[9] Ibid.