Kensington & Chelsea Council is looking at floating a policy idea to ask people living in larger homes to downsize to make way for social rent tenants.

The royal borough is currently in the midst of a housing crisis, and the council is still under pressure to rehouse people displaced by the Grenfell tragedy too.

The council faced controversy in recent months for imposing a deadline on people who had left their homes to decide whether to return or relinquish their tenancies, after spending millions on temporary accommodation.

July's scrutiny committee heard the residents of the estates were suffering anxiety in response to the tragedy, and some who did not wish to return felt insecure about what replacement tenancies they could be offered elsewhere.

During the Grenfell Recovery Scrutiny Committee meeting on Monday, one local asked if the larger homes in the Grenfell Walkways that tenants had not returned to would be given to people on social housing waiting lists who needed 4-bedroom or larger homes.

"If they stay empty forever that's criminal," she said.

Council staff told locals only six to seven four-bedroom homes became available a year in the borough, and there was work underway on a policy to "incentivise" people to downsize properties to make way for bigger families.

As of June, the borough had a social housing waiting list of 3,280, with 130 households already in social housing listed as asking for a move due to overcrowding.

Housing cabinet leader Cllr Kim Taylor-Smith, who was answering questions about the rehousing process at Monday's meeting, recently wrote a letter to the Housing Minister Kit Malthouse bidding for more powers for councils to seize "ghost homes" for tenants in need.

He wrote that the borough, London's smallest but also one of its wealthiest, had too many "buy-to-leave" landlords who kept homes empty, saying Kensington & Chelsea wanted the law to back them to get access to the properties for social housing tenants.

More details of the council's housing plans are expected to be revealed in a lettings policy expected to be discussed during Wednesday's full council meeting (October 17).