The waiting list for a house in Greenwich has surged by thousands in the last four years while the number being offered homes has dropped, an investigation shows.

So far this year 1,283 households have been successfully re-homed in Greenwich while the number of people on the waiting list has reached its highest since 2014.

There are 17,481 households waiting to be given a home by Greenwich Council, but the number being offered one has dropped by nearly 30 per cent.

In figures provided to this newspaper it has been revealed the number of households re-homed has dropped 28 per cent since 2014, down from 1,784.

So far this year seven per cent of the waiting list has successfully been moved into accommodation, according to a Freedom of Information request.

A spokesman for the council said: “There is a nationwide housing crisis. In the Royal Borough alone there are 17,000 households on the council’s housing register with the highest number – over 800 – of homeless households living in temporary accommodation in the past 10 years.

“Because of the high demand for temporary accommodation and the lack of suitable properties within the borough we sometimes have to house people in properties outside the borough, but only: as a temporary measure; if the applicants themselves wish to move; or for safety reasons.

“Last month the Mayor of London allocated £32m to the borough from his Building Council Homes for Londoners programme.

“We are committed to our housing programme for local people and families and have set ourselves an ambitious housing delivery programme of more than 1,000 homes.

“Together with our Meridian Home Start partnership and the Mayor’s allocation, this means that we can step up our programme to build good quality homes for social rent, with building works starting by 2022.”

Sadiq Khan agreed to hand Greenwich Council £32m for more than 500 council homes to be built.

The Mayor’s cash, will go towards building 588 new homes, although the council says it has identified enough other sites to deliver up to 800 houses by 2030.

It comes as the council passed a new housing delivering strategy, including community land trusts and “specialist housing”.