Prioritisation - section 6.15 of the proposed new Housing Allocation Scheme
The council prioritises Applicants for an allocation of social rented housing according to the following criteria:
Bands, in the order of A to D. Band A has the highest priority and Band D the lowest.
Where two or more Applicants might have the same priority in the same Band, then by the date their application was first received by the Local Authority.
Changes are proposed to the following band categories:
Band A
- A transfer applicant or someone entitled to a statutory succession who would or is currently under-occupying their accommodation by one bedroom or more.
The current Scheme gives a band A to transfer applicants under-occupying their accommodation by two bedrooms or more. The change to under-occupying by one bedroom or more has been made to encourage under-occupying households to move, to improve access to larger family sized accommodation to applicants on the housing register.
Applicants who are a new (priority need) family unit living within an existing family, who have insecure living arrangements that are not sustainable in the longer term. E.g., where someone is living in the family home who has had a child themselves and this has resulted in overcrowding and tensions in the family home. This is for verified cases following a home visit, consideration of all housing options, and allocated at the discretion of the Council. Applicants will also need confirmation from their family that they can reside in the family home for a minimum of one year from the date of application.
This change has been proposed to recognise the need to move for newly formed priority need households, whilst promoting the prevention of homelessness and removing the need for temporary accommodation.
- Applicants to whom the council owe a statutory duty to house. This category is in the existing Scheme as a Band A but it was qualified with ‘but where the council has been unable to provide private sector accommodation and the household is resident in bed and breakfast accommodation.’
The requirement for an Applicant to be resident in bed and breakfast accommodation has been removed to encourage applicants to consider alternative temporary accommodation arrangements if it is appropriate and safe to do so.
Band B
- Applicants who have unusually high ongoing accommodation needs, which cannot be met in the private rented sector. This category will only be used at the discretion of the council in consultation with support agencies. Discretion for a direct let when clients have been there for a set amount of time and assessed as ready to move on.
This category was previously in Band A, but with no provision for a direct let.
The change has been proposed to encourage Applicants who have been assessed as ready to move on from support accommodation to look for alternative accommodation options including private rented accommodation. Where it has not been possible for an Applicant to secure alternative accommodation, the Applicant will be made a one-off offer of suitable social housing on a direct let basis. Best endeavours will be made to meet the needs of the Applicant where housing availability allows.
This change has been proposed to improve the throughput in supported accommodation and widen access to placements for clients in need of accommodation with support.
Band D
- Applicants from Band A, B or C, who have exhausted their right to refuse an allocation of social rented housing.
We have made a decision to deprioritise rather than exclude applicants from the register.