Apply for council housing

Council housing in Waltham Forest is extremely limited. There are not enough available homes to house everyone who applies. This means that only residents who have the highest priority will be considered for a council home.

We strongly suggest you try other ways to find a home. We've put information on this site to help you. Please see our affordable homes to rent or buy webpage for details on:

• affordable home ownership schemes
• affordable rent schemes
• affordable rents for key workers
• self-help guides to finding a home

The Housing Register

Before you can look for a council home, you need to be on the Housing Register. You can apply if you’re over 18 and have lived in the borough for at least the past two years.

The register uses your circumstances to rank your level housing need. These levels are:

• 'additional preference' category - most council homes are let to people in this highest category of housing need
• 'reasonable preference' category - less than one in ten homes are let to people in this category
• 'no preference' category - if you're in this lowest category, you won't be housed

You can see the rules about who gets priority for housing by downloading our allocations policy (PDF 721KB)