In August the Scottish Government placed some questions on social housing lists in an Ipsos Mori omnibus survey. The aim of this data was to get a better understanding of how many people are on a social housing list as administrative sources on housing lists have an unquantified amount of double counting as households can register for multiple lists.
The main points to emerge from new data are:
- It is estimated that 6% of Scottish households contain someone who is currently on a social housing list. This equates to around 144,000 households
- Of those on a housing list 59% are only on one list with 21% on three or more lists
- Of those on a housing list 16% are on the list as they want a larger house, 15% because they are setting up a new household or are leaving the parental household, and only 6% because they can't afford to stay where they currently are
- 40% of those on a housing list, equating to approximately 58,000 households, say they have no other alternative for getting a house. Those who have considered other options have considered staying in their current property (10%), renting from a private landlord (19%), buying a property (10%) or applying for shared ownership or a shared equity scheme (9%)
