Councils given more freedom over allocations
Councils are to be given more freedom to allocate social housing as they see fit, under statutory guidance published today.
The Communities and Local Government department document gives local authorities a greater degree of flexibility on allocations, but still states those in greatest housing need should be given priority.
It also places a responsibility on councils to tackle myths about the allocation of social housing.
The department gave a series of example of how councils are intending to implement the guidance, including Manchester City Council, which wants to prioritise homes for people who are in work, volunteering, or training.
Test Valley Borough Council is looking at setting a quota for how much of its stock is allocated to people with a connection to the local area, and Bournemouth Borough Council is planning to alter its policies to make better use of under-occupied homes.
Housing minister John Healey said: ‘People must be given confidence that council homes in their area are being allocated fairly. Councils must make sure people can see more clearly how homes are being allocated in their area.’
The guidance will implement a promise made by prime minister Gordon Brown in June. He said allocations policy would be altered to give greater priority to local people and those who had been on waiting lists for a long time, as part of the Building Britain’s Future pledge.
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Readers' comments (7)
Andrew Fiske | 04/12/2009 3:48 pm
This is a quote direct from CLG's own Equality Impact Assessment on the new Code:- "At a localised level, a revised allocation policy might potentially reduce the number of new lets going to black and minority ethnic groups. For example, a scheme which gave more priority to people in work might reduce the number of lets going to some elements of the black and minority ethnic community, depending on local employment statistics. Furthermore, a scheme which gave more priority to local connection and waiting time might reduce the number of lets going to newly-arrived migrants.
While there may be small local impacts such as these, we do not expect there to be any significant change nationally, given that we are not making any changes to the RP categories."
The new Code states that Local Authorities should "ensure that allocation policies comply with equality legislation"
As all good students papers state - please discuss.
I'm sure Housing Advice Centres are rubbing their hands with glee - there will be plenty of work here for a few years to come...
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kass | 05/12/2009 10:48 am
You will not believe the amount of corruption this will encourgae in councils up and down the country. As if, in some councils at least, there was not already enough of it... We'll soon see the courts cases waiting list get closer and closer to the numbers of the housing waiting lists.
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Simon Stokes | 07/12/2009 11:43 am
Kass said"
You will not believe the amount of corruption this will encourgae in councils up and down the country. As if, in some councils at least, there was not already enough of it... We'll soon see the courts cases waiting list get closer and closer to the numbers of the housing waiting lists."
I think you will find thats it is incompetance rather than corruption, most dont have the ability to be corrupt, they just have no idea what they are doing and those above them dont either. I havent seen any corruption in my Council but the incompetance is staggering. If we were a business in the true sence of the word we would have gone bankrupt years ago!
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teddy mcnabb | 07/12/2009 12:24 pm
What the dictatorial lib/dems do in northampton borough council is to give sheltered housing stock to general needs tenants, thus undermining the genuine sheltered housing residents and their genuine grievances, and disturbing the peace and security these residents so dearly need. A shameless lot at N.B.C!
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john citizen | 07/12/2009 12:35 pm
hi Andrew,
'REDUCE the number of lets going to newly arrived migrants' discuss
Very short discussion. No housing should ever be allocated to newly arrived immigrants. no one should get very cheap, heavily subsidised housing unless thay have UK resident for at least 10 or 20 years, and paid tax and NI.
before anyone comes back I'm married to a immigrant who has paid tax and NI for 8 years, but would not dream of depriving British citizens of their rights.
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Stevie W | 08/12/2009 4:32 pm
Kass - Please would you like to attend our housing executive cabinet meeting to explain why you feel this will encourage corruption amongst staff, therefore inferring that they all have a tendancy to be inclined to behave this way whenever an oportunity arises.
Small, petty minded people like you give hard working civil servants a bad name without reason or blame, or maybe you have hard evidence that corruption such as you mention occurs in all councils. One thing's for sure, you don't work in housing or know anyone who does else your thoughts would be different.
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Simon Stokes | 09/12/2009 9:10 am
"""Stevie W | Tue, 8 Dec 2009 16:32 GMT
Kass - Please would you like to attend our housing executive cabinet meeting to explain why you feel this will encourage corruption amongst staff, therefore inferring that they all have a tendancy to be inclined to behave this way whenever an oportunity arises.
Small, petty minded people like you give hard working civil servants a bad name without reason or blame, or maybe you have hard evidence that corruption such as you mention occurs in all councils. One thing's for sure, you don't work in housing or know anyone who does else your thoughts would be different."""
I am not sure you should be using the words "Hard working" and Civil Servants" in the same sentance. After spending a long time working in the private sector, I have yet to see anyone in our housing department who works anything like as hard as my previous colleagues did. Try working with real competition and consequences for your actions as well as true performance related pay in industrties that are dying rather than the "safe" gold plated working environments local Govt work under. Why do you think so many come to work for them???
Sorry but thats the reality, I know many of the people I work with truly believe they are busy and hard working, but only because they have never worked anywhere else and have nothing to compare it against. The world has changed, but most Local Govts have not changed with it and are in for a big shock in the not to distant future.
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