Issue - meetings

Mr Bob Porter, Head of Housing & Planning Services and Ms Victoria May, Housing Options Manager introduced the report and requested Members to comment. Mr Porter highlighted the following:

• Councils were required by law to adopt a Housing Allocations Policy and the current policy was adopted in 2013;
• Since then there have been some legislative changes that required changes to the current policy;
• A public consultation on the proposed policy had started and any significant changes to the proposals would be presented to Cabinet on 15 January 2019;
• There were five key areas to be changed in the current policy. These included:

Ø  Key workers to be included in the policy under Bands B and C;

Ø  One suitable offer to be made to an individual on the housing waiting list;

Ø  Homeless Priority: Homeless households, who applied prior to 3 April 2018 and are owed a permanent housing duty by the council, will now be included in Band B;

Ø  The timescale for individuals on anti social behaviour orders placed in Band D would be twelve months;

Ø  Those individuals with arrears would be placed in Band D until they cleared their arrears.

In response to the presentation Members made comments and asked questions as follows:

• What were the eligibility criteria for key worker list?
• Could the list be changed to reflect the local needs like adding care support workers?
• Did having an open policy for the armed services personnel create a significant level of attraction from this group to register on the local housing waiting list?
• Did council have a policy for not housing single mothers near neighbours with a history of anti-social behaviour?
• Why was it that victims of harassment are moved rather than the perpetrators?

Officers responded as follows:

• The key worker list was developed by the Government. However the Council could add other professional occupations to the list;
• How long an individual stayed in Band D depended on their circumstances. However it was also a requirement that they would have to clear or reduce their arrears;
• Council usually published approximate waiting times;
• There is only limited demand as there only a few households in that group that had registered on the waiting list;
• With regards to anti-social behaviour; the Council and Housing Associations initially aim to resolve disputes without the need for anyone to move, this may include mediation or enforcement action against the perpetrator. In serious cases a repossession order against the perpetrator might be sought. There is provision within the policy for victims of anti-social behaviour to be moved if this is necessary to protect them from harm. Households with a history of serious anti-social behaviour can be excluded them from lettings in areas of particular sensitivity.

There being no further comments to make Members welcomed the proposals and noted the report.

Cabinet was advised that all local authorities with responsibility for housing are required by law to publish a Housing Allocations Policy. The allocations policy sets out the way in which the council allocates its homes and local housing association owned homes. The council’s current Allocations Policy was adopted by the council in July 2013.

As a result of changes to the legislation which saw the enactment of the Housing Allocations Act on 03 April 2018 and case law regarding the operation of the allocations policy, it was necessary to update the Housing Allocations Policy for the district.

The following Members spoke under Council Procedure Rule 20.1:

Councillor Campbell;

Councillor Lin Fairbrass;

Councillor Jaye-Jones.

Councillor Savage proposed, Councillor Ashbee seconded and Cabinet:

1.  Approved the consultation draft of the Allocations Policy attached at Annex 1 to the Cabinet report;

2.  Delegated authority to the Head of Housing and Planning in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing and Safer Neighbourhoods to make any minor amendments required to the policy following consultation.