Here's the allocations policy of a randomly selected council:
Who can apply?
Any UK resident aged 16 or over may apply to join the register. People will not be accepted if they are subject to certain types of immigration control or they fail the legal test of acceptable behaviour.
Unacceptable behaviour could be:
a high level of debt owed to landlords, with no repayments being made
serious anti-social behaviour
certain unspent convictions
Applicants aged 16 and 17 (and care leavers) will only be accepted if they have support to enable them to sustain a tenancy and a trustee who can hold a tenancy on their behalf until they reach the age of 18.
How do we assess housing need?
Under the Housing Act 1996 (as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002) local authorities have to ensure, that when allocating housing, reasonable preference is given to the following groups:
people who are homeless
people occupying unsanitary or overcrowded housing or else living in unsatisfactory housing conditions
people who need to move on medical or welfare grounds (including grounds relating to a disability)
people who need to move to a particular locality in the district of the housing authority, where failure to meet that need would cause hardship (to themselves or to others)
How will we prioritise applications?
Applicants are placed in one of 4 bands according to their circumstances. These are:
emergency
gold
silver
bronze
A summary of these bands is shown below.
Full details of the North Yorkshire Housing Allocation Policy can be found on the right of this page or go to North Yorkshire HomeChoice for more information.
Emergency band
This band is intended to meet the needs of applicants in extreme circumstances only. It will only contain a small number of applicants at any one time and is subject to a time limit.
unable to return to their home from hospital because their current home is permanently unsuitable
unable to access key facilities in their home without major adaptation works
Only applicants with a local connection to the partnership area will be considered for the emergency band.
Gold band
care leavers, with an agreed support package
applicants who need to move on from an approved accommodation based supported housing scheme
under-occupiers of a local authority or housing association property in the partnership area who want to move to a property with at least two fewer bedrooms
applicants who are statutory homeless or at risk of homelessness and in priority need
applicants who are overcrowded and require 2 or more bedrooms
applicants who are classified as a good neighbour
applicants with a serious and enduring illness whose health and/or wellbeing is significantly compromised by their home or environment
applicants who need to move to relieve a proven hardship
Silver band
applicants who have a health or well-being issue, which will be removed or improved by moving
applicants who are statutory homeless or at risk of homelessness but with no priority need or are intentionally homeless
applicants who are overcrowded and require 1 more bedroom
applicants whose home lacks basic amenities or have to share facilities with other households
under-occupiers of a local authority or housing association property in the partnership area who want to move to property with one less bedroom
Bronze band
all other applicants
How do we decide who is successful?
At the end of the advertising period a short-list of eligible applicants who have bid (expressed an interest) for a property will be produced.
Bids will be placed in band order as this is a measure of housing need. Applicants in Emergency band will be ranked first, followed by those in Gold, Silver and Bronze bands.
There are five tie-breakers in total used to help determine priority between bids. They are
banding
local connection
occupation (number of bedrooms required)
debt
time
The tie-breakers are only used as necessary.
For example, if only two applicants bid for a property, one in Gold band and one in Silver then the offer goes to the higher Gold applicant. If both applicants are in Gold band then the process moves to the next tie-breaker, which is local connection, and so on.
Full details of how we shortlist can be found in the North Yorkshire Housing Allocation Policy on the right of this page or go to North Yorkshire Home Choice for more information.