To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what progress has been made in her Department’s £15 million programme to pilot measures to tackle household overcrowding. (243348)

This year we have established 38 overcrowding pathfinder areas (all London boroughs, Birmingham, Bradford, Leicester, Liverpool and Manchester). Each pathfinder has received £110,000, this financial year, to enable them to collect more robust data on overcrowding and develop strategies and action plans to tackle overcrowding.

Pathfinders are doing this by building on some of the lessons learnt from pilot projects in London which sought to make better use of existing stock through reducing under occupation, better use of the private rented sector and offering housing options to mitigate the effects of overcrowding. We will be seeking progress reports from pathfinders before the end of the financial year.

We will shortly look at options for taking forward the pathfinder programme in 2009-10.