Policy Consultation

*******POLICY REVIEW CONSULTATION - Please note that due to the Government's plans to reform social housing, we have  decided to defer publishing our findings and making any amendments to the policy until such time as the full implications of the reforms have been considered *******

TEES VALLEY COMMON ALLOCATION POLICY REVIEW

 (SUMMARY)

1.         Introduction

We have recently conducted a review of Tees Valleys existing Sub-Regional Common Allocation Policy following it's implementation 12 months ago.  A list of the proposed changes are shown below.  We have also stated the reason for suggesting why these amendments have been put forward and what they will mean to people applying to join the Common Housing Register or to those already registered.  The policy review has taken into account existing housing legislation; statutory and regulatory guidance.

 2.        Assessment of Applications

The policy consists of various sections and refers to bandings that are applied to applicants who, by law, must be given priority or ‘reasonable preference as they are assessed within categories of those that have more urgent housing needs than others.  Other categories where a priority banding would be applied are for those in high housing need, those that have other housing needs and those that have no or low level housing needs.   Applicants are assessed and placed into one of the following bandings which reflect ‘reasonable preference within the Tees Valley CBL Scheme as follows:

• Band 1 + (decants) - People losing their home due to a recognised regeneration scheme within any one of the local authorities within the sub- region.

• Band 1: Statutory homeless and homelessness prevention

• Band 2:  High housing need

• Band 3: Other housing needs & efficient use of the housing stock

•  People who have no or low level housing need are placed into Band 4 (this means that they do not have any priority as they do not have an urgent or high housing need).

 3.          Proposed changes to the Common Allocation Policy

 Local Lettings – Suggested amendment to Section 1.6 b)

 To reflect recently published Fair and Flexible: statutory guidance on social housing allocations for local authorities in England, we are recommending as part of the review that we include within the policy that the Tees Valley Sub Regional Partnership will be using local lettings policies to achieve a wide variety of policy objectives, including dealing with concentrations of deprivation or creating mixed communities by setting aside a proportion of vacancies for applicants who are in employment, or to enable existing tenants to take up an offer of employment. 

Cumulative Need – Section 3.3

Following guidance contained within the recently published Fair and Flexible: statutory guidance on social housing allocations for local authorities in England and the consultation undertaken as a result of this, we are proposing that cumulative need is removed from the assessment of applicants housing needs.

Currently, priority for an offer of accommodation is given to those applicants with the greatest housing need who qualify under more than one category and a property may be given to an applicant who is ranked further down the shortlist because they have more than one need within that category.

The proposal to remove cumulative need is also due to the fact that it is felt to be confusing to applicants and that greater understanding of the way properties are allocated and let to those in the highest priority banding is a simpler and more transparent way of assessing applicants and allocating properties to them.

Assessing housing need and the priority bands – Suggested amendment to Section 3.4

Priority Band 1+ (decant)

• People living-in with the main householder/s who require their own accommodation, provided they have lived there, as their sole or main home, for at least 12 months.  Proof of residency will be requested e.g. bank statements, verification of housing benefit or council tax records.

Suggestion to change to:

• Main householder/s who require their own accommodation, provided they have lived there, as their sole or main home, for at least 12 months.  Proof of residency will be requested e.g. bank statements, verification of housing benefit or council tax records.  This suggestion is to clarify that the priority band will only be awarded to the main householder/s and not members living in with them.  

Priority Band 1 D)- People leaving HM armed forces or prison

• People leaving HM armed forces who are homeless and assessed as institutionalised and who have a local connection to one of the local authorities in the Tees Valley area.

Suggestion to amend to:

• People at the point of leaving HM armed forces who are homeless and assessed as institutionalised.   Also to remove the reference to a local connection as those leaving the armed forces do not need  a local connection to the area they apply to - the local connection is applied by the receiving partner.

Property of the week- Section 4.6

Suggestion to remove ‘property of the week as the current IT system does not allow for a property to be advertised on a first come, first served basis.

Local Connection - Section 4.8

Suggestion to remove bullet point 2:

• They previously lived in the local authority area and lived there for 5 years or longer;

This does not follow the code of guidance legislation and we are unable to obtain evidence to assess this.    However, this does not prevent people that are outside of the Tees Valley from applying to be on the Common Housing Register.

The last date for comments was the 31st August 2010.   

The results of the findings will be published in the foreseeable future.