We use our Allocations Policy to help us let our properties to those in greatest housing need and our policy helps us identify who these households are. We are currently reviewing our Allocations Policy to take into account new legislation, which we must comply with by May. This will not result in any significant change to our policy.
The change in law allows us to take into account whether someone owns their own home which has not been the case until now. We are not proposing to change our policy to take this into account, at this time. There are particular circumstances where applicants must be given reasonable preference, by law, compared to other applicants. The new legislation identifies 3 groups:
- Homeless persons and persons threatened with homelessness
- People who are living in unsatisfactory housing conditions
- Tenants of houses which are held by a social landlord and which the social landlord considers to be under-occupied.
Our current policy reflects this already and wording will be amended, where required, to ensure legal compliance. This does not change our current policy and, in addition Viewpoint continues to specify other groups who we give reasonable preference to including those with health and support requirements.
To tell us what you think about current changes and what you would like us to consider when undertaking a fundamental review of our Allocations Policy, please answer a short survey here.
The survey is open until 19 April 2019.