Strategic context
In determining our strategic plan to tackle housing needs in Hounslow, we carried out a detailed assessment that considered the nature and extent of issues affecting residents, the expected development of these over the next six years, the apparent gaps in our current and projected housing and service provision, the Council’s statutory responsibilities, and the current and likely availability of funding. The main findings of this exercise were put to our partners and the wider public in a consultation that ran between April and August 2025, during which we sought to compare them with the experiences of residents and professionals living and working in Hounslow. The validated final conclusions are summarised in this section of the document.
Hounslow, in common with the local housing market area in West London and the wider Greater London region is in the midst of a Housing Crisis. There is a severe and long-term shortage of affordable, high quality and secure housing in the borough, with resultant overcrowding, unsuitability of accommodation and insecurity of tenure that has significant consequences for the economy, education, health and wellbeing of the borough. The key drivers of the crisis that we wish to address through this strategy are outlined below.
- In a typical month in 2024, there were 4,200 households on the housing register waiting for a council house, 60 of whom were allocated tenancies in council properties and a further 24 of whom were nominated to tenancies in private registered providers of social housing in the borough.
- At this rate a typical household seeking a 2-bedroom general need property can expect to wait just under three years to be granted a home; however waiting times for larger and disabled adapted properties are far higher.
- Between 2018 and 2019 Hounslow assessed 1,300 households who approached the Council presenting themselves as homeless, in 2024 there were 4,200 homeless approaches to the council, an increase of 226%
- Between 2018 and 2019 the GLA’s CHAIN network recorded 87 rough sleepers in Hounslow. In the period 2023 to 2024 rough sleepers had grown to 328, an increase of 277%.
- Homeless families in Temporary Accommodation (TA) grew in Hounslow to a peak of nearly 1,000 households at the end of the pandemic in 2022; however this had been successfully reduced by the end of 2024 to the pre-pandemic level of below 600 households.
- Hounslow’s population grew 6% from 286,000 to 302,000 between 2018 and 2024.
- Housing stock increased 8% from 103,000 to 111,000 between 2018 and 2024.
- However, since the 2011 census, Hounslow’s population growth from 255,000 was 18%, compared to Hounslow’s housing unit increase from 97,000 of only 14%, indicating a long-term decline in the supply of housing in the borough.
- The lack of supply to meet growing demand in Hounslow is underlined by the average cost of private rents increasing of 46% from £1,300 to £1,900 per month between 2018 and 2024.
- Between 2018 and 2024, median annual wages in Hounslow grew only 24% from £26,000 to £32,200; household incomes are typically 1.5x this amount or in the region of £48,300.
- The average cost of purchasing a house increased 13% from £403,000 to £454,000 between 2028 and 2024; this proportionately smaller increase likely reflects that house prices have reached the limit of what the local market is able to endure.
- The average house price is now over 14 times the average salary in the borough – the average price of a home bought by first time buyers in Hounslow was £408,000 in 2024, which would require a deposit of £40,000 and a household income of £82,000 to afford a typical mortgage.
- Worklessness, underemployment and the number of residents needing help with their basic living costs increased dramatically during the pandemic and has not reduced - people in receipt of UC increased 156% from 16,400 to 42,100 between 2019 and 2024, with 11,700 people unable and unexpected to find work.
- Over 65s increased from 12% to 13% of the borough’s population between 2018 and 2024 – they are expected to make up 16% or one in six of Hounslow’s population by 2030.
As a London Borough, Hounslow is firstly a Local Housing Authority with responsibilities for tackling homelessness and rough sleeping, and the allocation of social housing within its boundaries. Secondly, we are also the landlord of over 13,500 tenanted and 3,000 leasehold homes, with responsibility for the safe and decent upkeep of those properties, alongside a programme that is targeted to deliver an additional 1,000 council homes by 2026. Together these comprise our fundamental housing accountabilities and addressing them collectively and comprehensively is the principal aim of this strategy.
Besides these, Hounslow is also a Local Planning Authority, with responsibility for determining planning applications and enforcing planning regulations in line with our Local Plan, which sets out the overarching policy for managing all development within the borough. We are also a Licensing Authority with responsibility for Environmental Health, which includes regulation and enforcement of private rented accommodation within the borough. The Council’s other statutory duties include many responsibilities for vulnerable children and adults within the borough, which necessarily encompasses an interest in the provision of appropriate housing, suited to their needs and individual circumstances. Ensuring that housing services and provision aligns and complements these objectives is the secondary aim of this strategy.
With the key facts and our core responsibilities in mind, our priorities for addressing the housing crisis and supporting residents in housing need in Hounslow are as follows:
Tackle Homelessness and Rough Sleeping
Offering suitable prevention, advice, and support including efficient allocation of social housing, to reduce numbers of homeless, households in Temporary Accommodation, rough sleepers, and vulnerable persons in housing need.
Safe and decent council housing
Ensuring that all council homes are safe, decent and affordable to live in, with a tenancy management service that meets or exceeds the Regulator of Social Housing’s Consumer Standards and benchmarks highly on tenant satisfaction.
Raise Standards in the Private Rented Sector
Working with private landlords and their residents to ensure that tenants’ rights are respected, taking enforcement action where these rights are breached or where the landlord provides a home that is not safe.
Residents live healthy, independent and sustainable lives
Organising across the council and with statutory, voluntary and community partners to address overarching issues such as disability and mental health, anti-social behaviour, domestic abuse, safeguarding and the provision of specialist accommodation, poverty, inequality, and the environment.
More genuinely affordable homes
Securing additional affordable homes whether to rent or buy, council-built or delivered through partners, ensuring that they meet corresponding demand and the requirements of the Local Plan.
