AS many as 1,000 households in York are overcrowded, a leading homeless charity has revealed today.

Shelter is warning of a looming crisis in family life in York and North Yorkshire, with a new report claiming that thousands of families are being torn apart by overcrowded conditions.

The charity has warned in its report Crowded House that thousands more will suffer unless urgent action is taken to tackle the crisis.

The report reveals that, throughout Yorkshire and Humberside, one in 12 children (86,000) are now living in overcrowded conditions. The charity is calling for greater investment in affordable, family-sized homes.

Shelter defines an overcrowded house using calculations known as the bedroom standard - based on the age, sex, marital status and relationships of the members of the household.

A separate bedroom is needed for each cohabiting couple or person over 21. A room is also required for each pair of young people aged ten to 20 of the same sex or pair of children under ten of any sex. Young people aged ten to 20 can be paired with children under ten of the same sex, otherwise a room of their own is needed.

Shelter says that current rates of building are nowhere near enough to tackle the problem, with only 4,934 affordable family-sized homes built nationally last year.

Adam Sampson, director of Shelter, said: "Young people and children need room to grow and their health, education and well-being are being damaged by the miserable and overcrowded conditions they are forced to live in.

"A lack of space and privacy is destroying their relationships with their parents and brothers and sisters. Overcrowding must be tackled to prevent future generations of children being permanently scarred."

Shelter also found that overcrowding disproportionately affected many disadvantaged groups. Children living in social and private rented housing, single parent families and black and minority ethnic households were significantly more likely to be living in overcrowded conditions.

In Yorkshire and the Humber as a whole, it is estimated that 32,400 families (or 5.5 per cent of the total number of families) lack one or more rooms according to the bedroom standard.

Updated: 09:22 Friday, October 29, 2004