Last week the Department of Housing published its ‘Summary of Social Housing Assessments’ for 2020 which reported a 9.9pc fall in the number of households on the social housing waiting list from 2019. At first glance, this seems to be very positive and welcome news. However, those who meet the criteria for social housing, but are living in the private-rental sector and in receipt of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), are not included in the assessment. When it comes to understanding the true level of housing needs, this is a significant omission. HAP is an important form of support and can prevent homelessness for households, but it often fails to provide sufficient security of tenure and cannot meet the needs of people who have a long-term housing need. In practical terms, this means they are households in a constant state of worry about where and how they are going to live.