Data Note: Challenges when combining housing data from multiple sources to identify overcrowded households

Area of Science:

• Urban planning
• Public health
• Housing policy

Background:

• Assessed feasibility of creating local overcrowding indices in London using available council data.
• Merged household-level data from Energy Performance Certificates, commercial platforms, and council records.
• Utilized multiple imputation to handle missing data for population and housing characteristics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the practicality of generating localized overcrowding metrics.
• To inform strategies for addressing household overcrowding at the local level.
• To compare locally derived overcrowding estimates with national data.

Main Methods:

• Household-level data linkage using Unique Property Reference Number.
• Integration of data from Energy Performance Certificates, commercial property platforms, council tax bands, and housing databases.
• Application of multiple imputation techniques for data reconciliation.

Main Results:

• Successfully generated two indices of household overcrowding (bedroom and space standards) for families with children.
• Demonstrated the potential for comparison with nationally derived overcrowding estimates.
• Identified data linkage and definition ambiguities as key challenges.

Conclusions:

• Local authorities can feasibly generate overcrowding indices using available data.
• Standardized definitions for bedrooms are crucial for consistent local and national comparisons.
• Access to national bedroom data would enhance local overcrowding identification efforts.