Housing charity Shelter has called for an extra 60,000 social rented homes in England.
BBC News website talks to a woman whose family of five has waited four years for a move from its two-bedroom home.
 Poor housing can damage children's health and education, Shelter says |
"I really have waited very patiently but it's got to the stage where it's becoming unbearable," says Rachel Kirby.
The bedroom she and her partner Cliff Smith, both 35, share in their housing association property is little more than a box-room, she says.
"It's so squashed - there is just a bed and a wardrobe. A lot of the time one of us sleeps downstairs.
"It's not ideal for a relationship at all."
Mr Smith, who works as a driver, is on medication for depression.
The problem is being exacerbated by the family's crowded living situation, believes Mrs Kirby, who works nights as a care worker.
But her main concern is its effect on her three children, Anthony, 10, Daniel, five, and Jasmin, three, who share one bedroom with just a few feet of empty floor space.
"The kids are pulling their hair out at the moment," she says.
 |  [My children] are losing the chance to be individuals at home - as a mother I can see it and it's quite heartbreaking |
"They are all on top of one another. They literally get out of their beds and they are in somebody else's bed. "It only takes one of them to wake up and it disturbs all of them."
She adds: "I do think it's affecting their growing up and their individuality - they are losing the chance to be individuals at home.
"As a mother I can see it and it's quite heartbreaking."
She fears her eldest son may soon ask to move to his grandmother's home, where he now spends most of his time.
The family is also struggling to cope with middle son Daniel's behavioural difficulties in the overcrowded home, she says.
"My daughter will be four in October and she has never had her own space - just a few clothes and a few toys in boxes," Mrs Kirby says.
The government is planning to build 90,000 social housing properties between 2008 and 2011.
'Little extra room'
But Shelter wants the figure increased to 150,000, claiming such a move would take more than 150,000 children out of bad housing that harms their health and educational achievement.
Mrs Kirby says: "I am not a greedy person - I just want a little bit of extra room, just a little bit more space for the children to stop them feeling frustrated, a bit of space for the older child to grow from being a child into an adult.
She adds: "I am forcing myself to be strong, rather than see the family split up with my son asking to move to his Nan's, or my relationship breaking up, or one of the children strangling each other.
"But it's very hard - I really don't know how much it can carry on."
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