Shelter's research published on 7 June 2026 highlighted the gap between demand for social housing in England and the delivery of additional social rent homes.
How the calculation works
The charity compared 1,340,435 households on waiting lists in 2025 with average annual delivery of 11,259 social rent homes across 2023/24 and 2024/25. That delivery measure includes new construction and acquisitions by all providers. Dividing the waiting-list total by that average produces approximately 119 years.
The two individual annual delivery totals were 10,320 and 12,198. Using only the higher figure would not reproduce the headline calculation.
What readers should take from it
This is a comparison of an existing waiting list with a recent supply rate. It is not a forecast of how long any particular household will wait, nor a full simulation of future allocations, vacancies and applications.
Shelter used the findings to argue for substantially more social rent housing and changes to council housing finance. Those recommendations are the charity's policy position; the statistical comparison does not itself introduce any new housing entitlement.