1.7 m waiting list

[james armstrong]

>From The Economist,  September 6th 2008

"Estate Management

 Labour first turned its attention to improving the condition of existing social housing 
pouring £20billion into refurbishment  in its first decade in office.  Now it is increasing the quantity:
The aim is to build 20,000 homes in 2010 and more in future years.   (This week's announcement included a promise to bring forward some of this building work.)   It has also tightened up the right-to-buy scheme, capping the discounts that tenants are entitled to, in order to prevent more stock slipping away.  Last year was the first time since 1983 that more social housing was built than sold.
Still, an acute shortage remains:  1.7m households are on the waiting list for  council housing and   87.000 of them are in temporary accomodation, which is disruptive of families, and expensive for councils. Housing benefit, claimed by  4m households and worth £71 per week on average,  helps relieve the shortage. "