Help shape Hillingdon's new Social Housing Allocation Policy
Tuesday 6 August 2024: Hillingdon Council is inviting residents to give their views on proposed updates to the borough's Social Housing Allocation Policy.
Local authorities are required to have a method of assessing housing need, advertising social housing owned by the council or Housing Associations, and allocating properties.
The draft policy sets out the council's aims to address the growing demand for housing support by providing a clearer framework for prioritising applications.
The current housing allocation system in Hillingdon uses four categories, A to D, to rank housing needs. Band A has three extra categories for urgent cases. However, it has become harder to efficiently prioritise housing needs as two-thirds of residents on the waiting list fall into Bands A and B. The proposed changes to the policy will help make it easier to identify who should be rehoused first.
The key changes proposed are:
- increasing the number of priority bands to make the priority order for rehousing clearer
- reducing the number of additional priority categories
- giving increased priority to some of the most vulnerable residents
- allow more overcrowded households to bid for properties below their assessed need.
Cllr Eddie Lavery, Hillingdon Council's Cabinet Member for Residents' Services, said: "We are committed to ensuring residents live in safe and strong communities and preventing homelessness. The proposed changes to the Social Housing Allocation Policy will ensure it is equipped to tackle the currently challenging housing landscape.
"We welcome the views of all residents to shape this draft policy to ensure the allocation of homes is transparent, efficient and increased prioritisation is given to those with strong connections to the borough, severely overcrowded households and the most vulnerable.
"Despite our work to rapidly increase our housing stock, the escalating demand for support means that we do not have enough homes for everyone on our housing register and action must be taken to carefully examine how they are allocated."
The consultation will run until Sunday 13 October. To view the draft policy and respond, visit www.hillingdon.gov.uk/social-housing-consultation.
