Housing Allocation Consultation 2015

Closed 5 Apr 2015

Opened 12 Jan 2015

Contact

Zoe Goldblum

(Senior Policy Officer)

Housing Strategy Unit

020 7974 5519

zoe.goldblum@camden.gov.uk

Results updated 21 Jul 2015

Key findings

The analysis of the responses from the online and community researcher survey shows that there is a strong level of support for:

  • Awarding points for waiting time (79% in favour)
  • Rewarding long-term residence (80% in favour)
  • Local connection requirement (77% in favour, although split between 5 out of 7 years (47%) and 3 out of 5 years (29%)

There was also a good level of support for:

  • Changing the health and housing needs assessment (65%)
  • Giving more priority to overcrowded households (households with one bedroom less than their assessed bedroom need) (67%)
  • Introducing qualification criteria to prevent households with no housing need from joining the housing register (55%)
  • Changes to the overcrowding and bedroom assessment to benefit families with young children (54%)

Some policy proposals were supported by the survey, but concerns were raised in other parts of the consultation and engagement process:

  • Savings and assets test: 60% of respondents supported a test, but in DMC meetings, discussions with RPs and analysis of the responses to the open questions in the survey showed that the level of £20,000 was felt to be too low.
  • Exceptions panel: there was a good level of support for removing the exceptions panel (52%) in the survey, but concerns were raised about how the scheme would deal with exceptional decisions. This was particularly raised by the DMCs and voluntary/advocacy groups.
  • Expecting older children to continue sharing a bedroom (61%) regardless of age was also well supported although during wider discussions concerns were raised around children with disabilities or additional needs being expected to share a bedroom.

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Overview

By law, we must explain in writing who can apply for social housing and who gets priority. We also must show who qualifies to join the housing register and how we make sure the people in the greatest need are housed. We do this through our Housing Allocation Scheme. The law says we can give priority to certain groups, like overcrowded households, but we have to make sure our scheme works in a fair and balanced way.

The current scheme is also not well understood by residents. In a 2009 survey, 54% of respondents answered ‘partly’ and 23% ‘not at all’ to the question “How well do you understand how council and housing association homes are allocated in Camden?” Reviewing the scheme provides an opportunity for developing a simpler one, with input from residents and partners, and communicating it widely.

The following key principles were agreed by Cabinet as the basis for a revised Allocation Scheme.

  • Maintaining a fit-for-purpose housing register that accurately reflects need
  • Prioritising those in the greatest need
  • Encouraging mixed, strong and cohesive communities
  • A fair and accessible scheme for applicants.  

 

Why we need to change how we allocate homes

  • Currently there are almost 28,500 households on the housing register and this number is growing, with around 300 new applications each month. This is making our scheme costly and inefficient to run.

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  • There is currently no realistic prospect of increasing the supply of Council housing to meet this level of demand.

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  • On average we only have around 1,000 properties to let each year. Most households will never be rehoused and those who are wait for almost five years. The long wait between making an application and being rehoused means we are not helping people when they need it.

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  • Around 60% of households on our housing register have never placed a bid. Just having non-bidders on the list costs money and requires administration.

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  • The current system is not working as well as it could. Almost a quarter of allocations made last year had been through our exceptions panel (a group which can award points and increase an applicant’s priority for rehousing outside of the scheme).

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  • As part of the Council’s wider financial challenge, we are also looking at how we can make savings from the administration of the Allocation Scheme. 

 

 

Why your views matter

Last year we carried out a survey asking for your views on some new ideas for changing our allocation scheme. We have used your feedback and other evidence on how the scheme currently works to develop proposals for a new allocation scheme for Camden.

We are now looking for your views on our proposals for the new allocation scheme. As well as filling in this questionnaire, there will be opportunities to attend discussion sessions where you can find out more about our proposals.

We have divided our questionnaire into four main sections which show how our proposals can help us meet some of our wider priorities:

  • Building strong communities
  • Help for children and families
  • Promoting health and wellbeing
  • Ensuring our policies are fair and transparent. 

 

Note: the figures included in this questionnaire are based on analysis of our existing housing register. This has been used to show how many households could be affected by each of the proposed changes over the coming three years.

 

Areas

  • All Areas

Audiences

  • Anyone from any background

Interests

  • Community and living
  • Council and democracy
  • Housing
  • Social care and health