The unidentified resident is said to have been waiting ’46 years’ for a new council property.

Housing shortages in Lambeth are leaving 30,000 people in the borough, including one who’s been on the property ladder since 1975, waiting for a new place to stay.

A new figure has shown that nearly 10,009 (a third of people) have been patiently waiting for a new home between 5 to 9 years.

This is said to be 5,000 more who’ve waited in the last 10 years.

Last month, it had been said that 6,284 people have been on the waiting list for 3 years plus.

According to London news online, Lambeth council said that its oldest applications are for ‘people who are adequately housed and therefore have no priority for social housing.’

They say it’s also for people, ‘who are not actively seeking rehousing but remain on their list at their own requests’ and are ‘doing all it can to tackle the housing crisis’ which has affected many.

It’s been noted that the average waiting time trying to access a one-bed from 2016 to 2017 was 2.9 years, 3.4 from 2017-2018, as well as 3.6 years from 2018-2019.

For a two-bed apartment, people would have to wait 4.5 years from 2016-2017, 5 years in total from 2017-2018, as well as 5.5 years from 2018-2019.

In addition to this, the average time people were on the waiting list from 2016-2017 had been for 5.8 years, 4.8 years from 2017-2018, as well as 6.5 years from 2018-2019.

A spokesman had said that there is a ‘critical shortage of available properties’ in Lambeth.

He says that apartments in the borough, are only given to people who need a place to stay not based on their waiting times.

‘The properties that do become available are allocated to the highest priority households’; giving an ‘example.’

‘People who are homeless, who live in cramped conditions, or who have a medical condition made worse by their current home.’

Although the council says, ‘with almost 30,000 people on our waiting list and critical shortage of available properties, we can’t offer a home to most of the people who apply to us.’

Agreeing with the male spokesperson, they say ‘social housing is not allocated based simply on waiting time but on level of need.’

‘Not everyone on the housing register is actively seeking housing.’