Housing Needs Assessment 2006 - Westminster City Council

Westminster – Housing Needs Assessment 2006The survey showed considerable difference in both income and savings levels between the differentgroups. Overall an estimated 41.9% of the gross affordable housing requirement is for householdsheaded by a White-Other person.Overcrowding and under-occupationFinally, the survey looked briefly at overcrowding and under-occupation, overcrowding havingbeen shown as one of the most important reason for households to be living in unsuitable housing.The study suggested that 2.7% of all households are overcrowded and 20.9% under-occupy theirdwelling. The owner-occupied (no mortgage) sector shows the highest levels of under-occupation;the Council rented sector the highest overcrowding.Overcrowding and under-occupationNumber ofNumber of bedrooms in homebedrooms required 1 2 3 4+ TOTAL1 bedroom 33,477 24,462 18,101 2,575 78,6152 bedrooms 1,496 7,937 10,258 2,765 22,4563 bedrooms 13 553 5,285 3,721 9,5724+ bedrooms 11 36 515 1,191 1,753TOTAL 34,997 32,988 34,159 10,252 112,395KEY: Overcrowded households Under-occupied householdsNote:The bottom two cells of the 4+ bedroom column contain some households that are eitherovercrowded or under-occupied – for example they may require three bedrooms but live ina five bedroom property or may require a five bedroom property but currently be occupyinga four bedroom property.Source: City of Westminster Housing Needs Survey 2006Overcrowded households tend to have low incomes (per person) and are far more likely to state thatthey need or expect to move than other households.ConclusionsThe housing needs assessment in the City of Westminster provides a detailed analysis of housingrequirement issues across the whole of the City. The study began by following the Basic NeedsAssessment Model, which estimated a shortfall of 5,621 affordable dwellings per annum (for thenext five years).PAGE 12