The housing charity presented a 2,000-signature petition to the government calling for it to update its legal definition of overcrowded housing that dates back to 1935.
Shelter says this is hopelessly out of date as it fails to count babies under the age of one as householders, counts children under 10 as a half a person and considers kitchens and living rooms as suitable places to sleep.
"The result is that families with children must endure quite extreme conditions before they fall within the legal definition of overcrowded," says the charity's petition.
However, in its response the government says it has no plans to update the overcrowding standard, despite giving itself powers to do so in the 2004 Housing Act.
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