The measurement of homes meeting the standard was calculated based on results from a survey of 1,961 adults across Britain. Each of the five elements in the standard is measured according to certain criteria - for example, the essentials of "space" include having sufficient bedrooms for the household and space for the whole household to spend time together in the same room. Other aspects included having outdoor space, and enough space for children to study and adults to work. The Living Home Standard is different to the government's Decent Homes Standard introduced in 2005.
'I don't want to die here' Media captionEsmee Woolcomb and her husband Ian live in a one-bedroom flat in Bristol Pensioners Ian and Esmee Woolcomb, aged 62 and 72, have lived in their cramped onebedroom flat in Bristol for 10 years. Their home fails three of the five Shelter standards and it has no living room. Ian says the flat is "dark and damp" and "gets cold quickly, so we have to put the heating on quite often". They are desperate to move and have written several letters to the council with no success. "I was quite hopeful at first but now I'm thinking 'Oh my God. I don't want to die here,'" Esmee said. "I get very depressed about it when I think about it."
'It's degrading' Office worker Claire Miles lives in her mother Leeza's house in Harefield, Middlesex - which she also shares with her two young sons, her brother Alan and her mum's partner, Jim. Every night Claire and her sons, aged one and four, have to sleep on the living room floor. She said: "It would be nice to have a bit of privacy, some self-respect, because I just feel like we get really low. It's degrading."
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Claire grew up in the area but is disqualified from applying for council housing because she spent a couple of years living at a friend's house just outside the borough. She says renting privately is too expensive. "It's a lot of money - six months' rent up front, when you think it's 1,300 a month for rent. "Now the landlords have changed the rules anyway and said no-one wants tenants with housing benefit, but I would need part housing benefit to help me pay for it."
The five elements
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