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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many people are living in illegally overcrowded housing in (a) the UK and (b) the London Borough of Lambeth.

The Housing Act 1985 provides a statutory overcrowding standard, breach of which is a criminal offence. Official statistics on the number of households that are statutorily overcrowded are not routinely collected. According to the Department's English Housing Survey, in 2017-18, there were approximately 746,000 households living in overcrowded accommodation in England. This equates to 3 per cent of households. The Department does not hold information on the prevalence of overcrowding in the London Borough of Lambeth

Ref: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/774820/2017-18_EHS_Headline_Report.pdf .