Agenda item

The Portfolio Holder for Council Homes and Landlord Services to submit a report seeking Cabinet approval to enter a consultation phase for feedback from stakeholders, residents and current housing waiting list applicants on the proposed new Policy.

Cabinet:

1)    NOTED and endorse the contents of the draft Choice Based Letting and Housing Allocations Policy;

2)    APPROVED the commencement of a 6-week period of consultation from 13 January 2022 to 25 February 2022.

Michelle Howard, Director for Housing and Communities introduced the report, the purpose of which was to seek Cabinet approval to enter a consultation phase for feedback from stakeholders, residents and current housing waiting list applicants on the proposed new Policy.

Mrs. Howard advised that the Council was required to have a procedure to assess housing need, advertise available social housing and allocate properties (a Housing Allocations Scheme).  This provided a robust and transparent framework to determine eligibility and prioritisation for applications to the Housing Register, recognising that social housing was a scarce resource and must be allocated in line with need.  The Council’s current Housing Allocation Scheme was last updated in 2014.  It required a full review in context of local housing need, current partnership arrangements and legislative changes and the draft Policy (Appendix A) had addressed this.

Mrs. Howard highlighted that making changes to the Housing Allocation Scheme required a period of consultation and subject to approval this would begin tomorrow (for 6 weeks).  The Council was required to engage other housing providers operating within the borough and it was also important to seek views and feedback from partners, stakeholders, residents and current Housing Register applicants.  The engagement and feedback would assist the drafting of a robust equalities impact assessment and enable amendments to be made to the Policy.  A further report (detailing outcome, equalities impact assessment, the Policy and a timeline for implementation) would be submitted to Cabinet on 9 March.

Alison Bennett, Assistant Director for Housing Management gave a brief overview of the key changes within the draft Policy, as detailed at paragraphs 5.6 to 5.20.  These concerned:

·       Compliance with the Homeless Reduction Act 2017.

·       Options to refine the number of eligible applicants on the Housing Register to better match supply and demand.  The Council currently had approximately 608 applicants and approximately 200 available properties each year and this needed to be brought into better alignment.  It was proposed that there be changes to the local connection criteria for residency and employment.

·       Incentivising certain groups on the Housing Register (i.e. Armed Forces personnel), providing there was a housing need.

·       Removal of Band 4 (applicants with no housing need but who wish to move).  It was unlikely that the Council would be able to offer properties to applicants in this Band and advice and assistance on other housing options should be offered.  Those currently in Band 4 seeking older persons accommodation would be moved to Band 3, as there was less demand for these properties.

Mrs. Bennett advised that a Members Briefing would be held to consider the  issues in more detail.  The draft Policy would be published to the Council’s website together with some key survey questions to focus responses and ensure that the consultation was inclusive.

Councillor Ronan Browne, Portfolio Holder for Council Homes and Landlord Services thanked Mrs. Bennett and her team for their work, noting the important collaborative work undertaken between Members and officers.  He commented that community engagement was beneficial and the Council’s list of consultees was robust.  He looked forward to reviewing the consultation feedback and this would greatly assist with drafting the Policy.  The Policy would help to ensure an adequate supply of housing for those in need, help to protect the Council and would underpin the Council’s development programme for new council housing.

The Leader thanked Mrs Howard, Mrs Bennett and Councillor Browne for their work, commenting that he looked forward to a comprehensive consultation process and to the feedback received.

The Portfolio Holder for Climate, Access and Engagement advised that she looked forward to the development of the equalities impact assessment and would provide any support needed to assist with this.

Cabinet:

1)    NOTED and endorse the contents of the draft Choice Based Letting and Housing Allocations Policy;

2)    APPROVED the commencement of a 6-week period of consultation from 13 January 2022 to 25 February 2022.

Reason for the recommendations:

The revised housing allocations scheme will make changes to the way in which applications for social housing are assessed and prioritised to determine who can join the housing register and the criteria to determine the priority banding of each application.  Making changes to the Housing Allocations Scheme requires a period of consultation.

The Council is legally required to consult with other Housing Providers operating within the Borough, but it is also important to seek views and feedback from other partners, stakeholders, residents and current housing register applicants. The feedback received will enable amendments to be considered for inclusion within the policy ahead of a final version being considered by Cabinet in March 2022. The feedback will also enable the completion of a thorough equalities impact assessment, which will be considered by Cabinet alongside the revised policy.