I am looking to make a change with the local councils social housing register rules to allow families who are currently overcrowded in 1 or 2 bedroom properties and are eligible for a 4 bedroom property, to be allowed to also bid on 3 bedroom properties. 

My current situation is I live with my 4 children (ages 8 months, 7, 10 and 16 of mixed sex) and once my son turned 10 in October 2020 we were upgraded by the council the allow us to bid on 4 bedroom properties but our ability to bid on 3 bedrooms was taken away. This is a detrimental move and will cause us to be severely overcrowded in a small 2 bedroom flat for a lot longer due to the lack of 4 bedroom properties. 
I have approached the head of housing and local MPs and have been told that if they allow us to bid on a 3 bed they will be allowing us to be overcrowded, they didn’t understand that we are already grossly cramped and by allowing us to bid on 3 bedrooms will help our situation in the short term. 

Families with 4+children or those who have medical needs for their own room who are living in 1 room with numerous siblings and it needs to change. The lack of 4 bedrooms will force these families to be overcrowded for longer and the council need to help more.

In the past 12 months with my local council (Havering) there were just 4 houses that have 4 bedrooms and each of them went to those in the emergency band. I am not in this band so would not have been successful on these. I am worried that we will be forever stuck in this property and my children will grow bigger and will be sharing single beds as teenagers in a small room. It’s a very dire situation and it really needs to be addressed

I revived a response from the Director of Housing who stated:

“Whilst I appreciate your concern with the lack of 4 bedrooms to bid on, allowing you to bid for a property smaller than your assessed need, will not resolve your need to move on overcrowding grounds.  This is because in effect, you will still be deemed overcrowded, if you were to move to a 3 bed property.” 

As much as this may make sense it also means that those who are already overcrowded will be forced to stay in those small/cramped homes. By allowing us to bid on 3 bedrooms will help our situation and will free op properties for those who may currently be in 4 bedrooms and want to downsize to a 1 or 2 bedrooms. I’ve heard numerous stories from people in large properties who have been waiting over a year to downsize as the properties just aren’t there. Surely by allowing those in smaller properties to gain an extra room will help this situation? 

I need your help to sign this petition and help make it something the councils will discuss and consider as being a useful option to help the housing crisis and those overcrowded. 

Thanks