Number of people in London in poverty by housing tenure (2004/05 - 2022/23)
Last updated: August 2024
Next estimated update: June 2025
What’s this?
This indicator shows the number of people in poverty in London, split by their housing tenure.
What does it tell us?
A declining number of social renters in poverty
The number of Londoners in poverty who live in social housing has been in decline since 2019/20. In 2022/23, 760,000 people who live in social housing in London were in poverty - the lowest number in the 20 years recorded here. However, the poverty rate for those in social rented housing is still extremely high, at 49% in 2022/23.
Londoners in poverty are more likely to be private renters
870,000 people living in private rented housing were in poverty in 2022/23, around the same as pre-pandemic. However, this number is more than twice as high as it was two decades ago (430,000 in 2004/05). In 2004/05, Londoners in private rented accommodation made up 22% of all Londoners in poverty - in 2022/23 they made up 40%.
London’s poverty rates by housing tenure types 2022/23 were:
- 49% of Londoners in social rented housing were in poverty
- 34% of those in privately rented housing were in poverty
- 11% of owner occupiers were in poverty
35% of Londoners in poverty are in social rented homes, 40% are private renters and 26% are in owner occupied housing.
(Note: data are excluded for 2020/21 due to survey quality concerns because of COVID-19.)
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