Number of households experiencing multiple housing problems
About 2 mins
Key points
- 7.3 million households in England (30%) experience at least one problem with their housing.
- 896,000 households (4%) experience multiple housing problems.
Problems with people’s homes – non-decent homes, overcrowding and unaffordable costs – can influence their health. Non-decent homes include problems such as damp and cold, which can directly harm health. Overcrowding and poor affordability can cause stress and influence mental health. Each of these problems can influence health separately. Experiencing more than one of these problems risks further harm to health.
This diagram shows the number of households experiencing one or more housing problems in England:
- In England, 7.3 million households experience at least one housing problem and 12% of these households (around 896,000) experience multiple housing problems.
- The most common combination of these problems is having to pay more than a third of the household’s income on housing for a non-decent home – 550,000 households were in this position in 2023–24.
- There are 130,000 households living in non-decent and overcrowded homes, and 160,000 households living in overcrowded homes that are classed as unaffordable.
- A small number of households experience all three problems.
The chart shows that overcrowded housing is the least common of these problems in England, although people living in overcrowded households are most likely to experience multiple housing problems. A total of 43% of households living in overcrowded homes have at least one other problem, while 21% in non-decent homes and 20% in unaffordable homes experience additional issues.
- Non-decent homes are defined as those with a Category 1 hazard – as assessed by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) – which identifies homes that are not in a reasonable state of repair, lack reasonably modern facilities or are not warm enough (do not provide a reasonable degree of thermal comfort).
- The data presented above does not include vacant dwellings.
- Overcrowding is measured by comparing the number of household members against a bedroom standard. This standard sets the number of rooms a household needs, based on the relationship status of adults in the household, and the age and sex of the children.
- Unaffordable housing is where more than a third (33%) of household income (net of housing benefit) is spent on housing costs.
- ‘All three problems’ is based on a low sample size (25 households) and as such should be treated as indicative.
Source: Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, English Housing Survey, England, 2023–24
