Agenda item

Resolved that the Housing Allocations Policy be approved and adopted.

This decision is not subject to call in as:

·      the item has been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Commission, or has been the subject of a review undertaken by another body within the preceding six months.

therefore it will be implemented immediately.

The Executive considered a report (Agenda Item 6) which sought approval to adopt the Council’s policy for assessment and allocation of applicants seeking social housing.

Councillor Roger Croft stated that this policy was the product of 18 months work and Officers had been assisted in developing the detail of the policy by a cross-party task group of Members which had been overseen by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Commission.

The policy provided details about who qualified for an allocation of social housing in West Berkshire and the priority they would be given. New qualifying criteria would ensure that West Berkshire’s social housing would be directed towards those applicants who had a defined local connection to the district and those who had the greatest housing need. These principles had been supported throughout the two public consultations that had been held.

The Housing Act 1996 required local authorities to give preference to certain groups of applicants and the policy did this by awarding points for specific issues of housing need. During testing of the proposed housing needs assessment it became clear that the current practice of awarding points purely for the time the applicants had been on the housing register skewed the housing need assessment could result in allocations being made to applicants who were not in the greatest housing need. Therefore, these ‘time waiting points’ had been removed from the final draft of the Housing Allocation Policy. Appendix C to the report set out a full summary of all amendment made to the policy following consultation.

The policy would be implemented through the Choice Lettings Scheme which offered accountability and transparency in the allocation of social housing in West Berkshire.

Councillor Graham Jones referred to a specific case in Lambourn where a property had been allocated to a person outside the village. However, they had been service personnel and he asked for clarification on how they would fit into the policy. Councillor Croft responded that armed personnel and their families were generally exempt from the local connection qualifying criteria. In particular, those who were currently serving in the regular armed forces or who had served in the regular armed forces within the last five years. Also bereaved spouses or civil partners of members of the armed forces whose death was as a result of their service and who were being asked to leave Ministry of Defence (MoD) accommodation. Existing or former members of the reserve forces who were suffering from a serious injury or disability which was wholly attributable to their service would also qualify for local connection. This meant that applicants who fell into one of those groups would be deemed to have a local connection for the purposes of housing allocations and would qualify for the Common Housing Register.

Councillor Irene Neill referred to the fact that Looked After Children (LAC) were often placed outside the district and she queried whether those children would lose their local connection if they wished to return to the area after they were 18 years of age. Councillor Croft confirmed that a child who was the responsibility of West Berkshire Council and who had been placed outside the district would be deemed to have lived within the district for the duration of that placement and thus they would retain their local connection.

Councillor Tony Vickers was supportive of this policy which he felt was an improvement on the previous policy and felt that the main problem was in respect of the supply of affordable housing. He referred to page 5 of the report, paragraph 4.5, where it stated that there would be some limited negative impacts to certain categories and he queried what those impacts would be. Page 7 of the report (c), fourth bullet, mentioned people who had deliberately worsened their housing circumstances and he asked for examples of that. Councillor Vickers asked for clarification on what “Security of Tenure” meant in paragraph (i) on page 7 of the report. Page 8, paragraph 3.2 of the report referred to consultation and Councillor Vickers noted that every applicant registered on the Common Housing Register was advised of the consultations. He asked what proportion of the consultation responses had been received from this group of people. June Graves responded that the policy clarified the criteria around the award of housing and it might impact on certain groups of people such as those under 18 years of age who would not normally be offered tenancies without a guarantor or those applicants subject to Multi-agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) and men who had access to children from a previous relationship. It was agreed that as Councillor Vickers had raised a number of issues he would receive a written response.

RESOLVED that the Housing Allocations Policy be approved and adopted.

Reason for the decision: The Council has a statutory duty, under the Housing Act 1996, to set out a Housing Allocations scheme that determines the Council’s priorities and procedures to be followed in the allocation of affordable housing.

Other options considered: N/A.