Birmingham City Council leaders have confirmed that they are considering closing the local authority’s housing waiting list to deal with a backlog of thousands of applications for council homes.

The council has said that there are currently over 23,000 households on the housing register. In addition to those on the housing register, a further 11,000 applications to join the housing register have yet to be assessed.

Last month, the council issued a statement revealing that there are over 22,000 households on the housing register in Birmingham, including 5,000 households that are homeless and living in temporary accommodation.