A Lewisham resident has been on the waiting list for housing for 34 years, an investigation has revealed.

A Freedom of Information request from the local democracy service showed that more than 2,000 people on the list for a permanent home in Lewisham have been waiting a decade or more.  

Of the 9,383 waiting between three and ten years, 6,136 (65 per cent) have been waiting three or more years, while 4,458 (47.5 per cent) have been waiting five years or more, and 2,179 (23.3 per cent) have been waiting a decade or more.  

The figures showed that in the past three years the longest someone has been on the list is 34 years. 

The latest Government figures showed that there were just under 10,000 people on the housing waiting list in Lewisham.

Lewisham Council said the borough is facing a housing crisis and there is an “acute” social housing shortage.

But a spokesperson said the council was “determined” to get people off the waiting list.

She said: “Like the rest of London, Lewisham faces a housing crisis and there is an acute shortage of social housing.

“We are doing everything we can to tackle it with our programme to deliver new social homes, and we are supporting residents as much as we can.

“The scale of the housing crisis is reflected in our housing waiting list, which currently has over 9,000 households on it.

“Our allocation scheme aims to ensure families most in need are prioritised for offers; the inevitable result is that those less in need are less likely to receive an offer, i.e. those lacking one bedroom.

“We don’t want people to have to wait for years for a home, however the ongoing housing crisis we are in means that can happen.

“This is why we are determined to do all we can to deliver more affordable homes and get people off the waiting list into secure housing.”