THE true scale of Swindon’s housing crisis has been revealed in figures which show more than 12,000 people are stuck on the waiting list for a council home.

The total is the highest in more than 15 years and reflects a national housing crisis, with 40 families chasing every property.

The figure rises even further when 2,130 people who have requested transfers are taken into account.

Almost 2,000 people aged 60 or over who require one or two-bedroom homes are stuck in the line, the Swindon Council figures for January show.

Many pensioners are believed to want to downsize to smaller accommodation but are being hampered by the lack of suitable, affordable housing.

Martin Wicks, of the Swindon Tenants’ Campaign Group, said: “The waiting list keeps on rising. In the latest figures I have seen there are 6,400 people waiting for homes in Bands A and B, the highest it has ever been.

“I suspect many people don’t bother putting themselves on the list because they know they don’t stand a dog’s chance of getting anything.”

Mr Wicks is campaigning against the ‘bedroom tax’, which will cut housing benefits for working-age tenants if they are found to have more space than they need. Under the changes, payments will be limited to £400 a week for a four-bedroom property.

He said: “These changes in effect blame tenants for the shortage of council housing when the real culprits are governments from 1980 onwards that have sold council homes on the cheap, by way of the right to buy, and refused to replace those lost by building new ones.

“The lack of accommodation cannot be resolved by shifting tenants about. There are not, in any case, sufficient homes of the right size.”

Mr Wicks believes exemptions for pensioners mean the changes will hit young people struggling to get a foot on the property ladder.

He said: “The last housing needs survey in Swindon in 2006 indicated that 56.6 per cent of properties under-occupied were those of pensioners.

“The proportion today is probably no different.”

In total 1,940 people aged 60-plus were waiting for a one or two bedroom flat.

Dave Brown, chairman of the Swindon Older People’s Forum, said many pensioners were happy to downsize but were struggling to find alternative accommodation.

“The waiting list is a matter of concern.

“From what I have heard anecdotally there are people who have been lucky enough to be owner-occupiers who want to downsize but don’t have enough money or can’t find a suitable one or two-bedroom property,” he said.

“They are looking to the council in the hope there’s something out there, but the type of two-bedroom home with a bit of storage space they need is not around, even in the private sector. It might be elsewhere in the country, but not in Swindon.”

The waiting list for people requesting a new home, not including those who have request transfers, has increased by 380 per cent on 1997.

In the first year of the Labour Government’s period in office there were just 3,242 people on the list. By 2005 that had risen to 6,127.

The National Housing Federation has warned the situation, mirrored across the country, will grow even worse unless there is a sustained effort to build cheap homes.

Jenny Allen, South West lead manager, said: “Despite a slow-down in the housing market, house prices in Swindon remain out of reach for thousands of households, with the average home costing more than eight times the average local wage. This affordability issue, combined with the economic crisis, is clearly putting added pressure on the town’s social housing stock leading to rising waiting lists.”

The Federation said cuts to benefits and rises in private sector rents would exacerbate the situation.

Swindon Council has tried to address the crisis by delivering 389 affordable homes over the last financial year.

A spokesman said: “We recognise there is a need for more affordable housing in Swindon, but we cannot build more council homes to match this demand as we just don’t have the resources. However, we are committed to ensuring that all future developments contain a significant proportion of affordable homes.

“We will continue to ensure that we allocate accommodation for those with the greatest need.”