Lengthy waiting lists for housing criticised

SOCIAL housing groups have lambasted the current and previous governments after it emerged an “unprecedented” 98,318 households are on waiting lists for homes across the country.

Data revealed yesterday shows the number of people waiting for homes to become available has risen 75% since the last survey in 2008, and by 500% in the past 20 years.

Government statistics show 43,000 of the near-100,000 households on the waiting lists are families with children, meaning as many as 71,000 children do not to have a place to call home.