17,000 await council house across city

MORE than 17,000 households were waiting for a council house across Birmingham last year – but the real figure is likely to be much higher as experts warn against a “chronic” shortage.

Figures from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities showed 17,307 households were waiting for a council house in the city as of March 31, 2021.

This was up 21 per cent compared to the previous year – 14,208 – and marginally less at 17,454 in 2011.

However, the Local Government Association has warned that one in ten households wait over five years due to a “chronic shortage of affordable housing”.

It predicted that waiting lists could have doubled as Covid assistance programs wound down.

It comes after a Birmingham mother, Melissa Fitzharris, claimed she had bid for more than 650 council houses but had not been offered a single property last year.

The single mother was desperate to move from her one-bedroom ground floor flat in Kings Norton after two burglaries and drug misuse nearby.

She gave up her flat and started renting from a private landlord but her rent doubled.

Of those on the current housing waiting list, 45 per cent had reasonable preference, which gives them priority within the allocations system based on factors like homelessness, poor living conditions or health requirements.

There were 3,522 homeless households, nearly 200 times more than 18 waiting in 2020, and 435 households owed a duty by authority waiting for a property, down 85 per cent from 3,082 in 2020.

Last year, it was reported that there is a ‘20 year’ average wait for a council house in some areas of Birmingham.