Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for each of the past five years, what proportion of households on local authority housing waiting lists were (a) UK nationals, (b) EU nationals and (c) non‑EU nationals.

Information on the nationality of the lead applicant of households on housing registers is collected on a voluntary basis in the Local Authority Housing Statistics (LAHS).

Information is available for the past two years and is published in Section 6.7 of the Social Housing Lettings in England (tenants) statistical release. The 31 March 2024 snapshot can be found here and 31 March 2025 snapshot can be found here.

Please note that the percentages presented in these reports should not be used to estimate the number of households on housing registers in England with particular characteristics due to the low response rate and insufficient coverage of these voluntary questions. As the data is collected on an aggregated basis it is not possible to provide information on where lead applicants hold multiple particular characteristics. Further detail about the low coverage is published in Section 4.3 of the LAHS technical notes here for the figures as at 31 March 2024 and here for the figures as at 31 March 2025.

All lead applicants of households on housing registers are eligible for social housing. If a person’s visa means that they cannot access state benefits or local authority housing assistance, they would not be eligible to join a local authority's housing register.