Applying for social housing

Check if you are eligible to join the waiting list for social housing.

Before you apply

In the Lewisham borough, there are 9,200 people on the housing register.

Because of this high demand, we recommend you apply for council housing if you are in one of the priority categories. For more information, please refer to our housing allocations policy (PDF, 694KB).

We are reviewing our allocations scheme. We have decided to suspend the operation of the ALP 2020/21 until we have made revisions to our housing Allocation scheme. We will put proposed measures to a 12-week public consultation starting later this year. The link to the consultation will be available on this page.

Who can apply

You can apply for council housing if you:

live in the UK permanently
are over 18
have a gross annual household income of £50,000 or less
have household savings of £16,000 or less
have lived in the borough continuously for the last five years.

Who we prioritise

We use a banding system to prioritise people who:

are homeless
live in unhygienic or overcrowded housing
are vulnerable
have medical needs or disabilities
have urgent transfer needs, where someone’s life is severely endangered.

We also give priority to existing council tenants who would like to move to another social housing who:

need to move due to major repairs works, improvements or redevelopment
are experiencing racial, sexual or other harassment
have too many bedrooms and are moving to smaller council housing.

Join the housing register.

Support if you are already on the housing register.

Appeal against a decision

You can ask us to review our decision if:

we haven’t accepted your application to be on the housing register
you think we have made the wrong decision about your priority banding.

Emails us on housingreviews@lewisham.gov.uk. We will send you an appeal form, which you must return within 21 days. We will try to respond to you within 56 days.

If you aren’t eligible for council housing

If you aren’t eligible for council housing, don’t meet a priority category or have had their application rejected, there are other ways you can find home to live in.

Financial problems

If you are having financial problems, we may be able to provide advice on:

budgeting, money management and maximising your income
welfare reform and benefit changes, i.e. universal credit, benefit caps or the local housing allowance
employment or help finding a job
finding a deposit to secure private rented accommodation.