London council plans to kick 20,000 households off social housing waiting list

Greenwich Council in London is planning to slash its social housing waiting list and limit applications to the most urgent cases who meet specific criteria.

The council has launched a consultation on proposals to manage what it said was unprecedented demand for subsidised housing in the borough. As of May, around 27,000 households were on the housing register waiting for a council home, with only about 1,000 homes becoming available for rent each year.

At present, applicants for social housing are placed in one of three categories of priority. Households in band A are given the highest priority, followed by bands B and C.

Due to the inadequate supply of social housing relative to demand, around just ten homes a year are offered to households among the 20,000 stuck in band C of the waiting list, with the vast majority of newly available social housing taken by applicants with greater assessed need.

Now the council is planning to shut band C completely, and instead provide advice and information about other housing options such as low-cost renting and subsidised home ownership. Current band C households would be removed from the social housing waiting list.

‘If the housing waiting list was only for residents in the greatest need of rehousing, we could provide better help and support to them and let our empty homes more efficiently and quickly,’ according to the council’s consultation.

Band A includes people living in unsatisfactory housing that is to be demolished or refurbished, tenants who are under-occupying family homes or living in properties with adaptations they do not need, and tenants in hospital who cannot return home because it is no longer suitable for their needs.

Band B covers a variety of scenarios:

• Serious medical problems affected by their housing
• Homeless and in ‘priority need’
• Living in a severely overcrowded or insanitary home where remedial works cannot be completed within a reasonable period of time
• At risk of domestic violence, hate crime or other abuse
• Need housing to move out of local authority care, supported housing etc
• Placed by the council in private housing to prevent homelessness, and subsequently faced with homelessness through no fault of their own
• Key workers or others with a particular need to live in the borough, or council staff who must move to do their job/are leaving their job
• Tenants affected by the bedroom tax
• Armed services personnel and their families who are in housing, following their discharge from the Forces

All applicants not meeting one of the criteria for bands A or B are placed in band C.

‘Many residents in Band C make hundreds of bids for homes over long periods of time but will never receive an offer,’ the council’s consultation says. ‘We could, instead of managing a list which we know will not provide the solution the resident is hoping for and requires a lot of time to manage, provide better advice and information about other housing options that are more realistic, such as low-cost renting and home ownership and private renting.’

The council is also proposing introducing financial criteria to exclude people with higher incomes or savings from the social housing waiting list, as well as limited measures that would expand eligibility for the waiting list in particular circumstances.

Pat Slattery, Greenwich council’s cabinet member for housing, said: ‘This is another opportunity for our residents to help shape Royal Greenwich’s housing policies.

‘While there are no easy fixes to the issues we face locally in terms of housing, we are committed to making sure that our homes go to the people who need them the most and that we provide the best advice and help we can to those who can’t help through our housing allocations scheme. That’s why we need people’s feedback on what we could do differently.’

The public consultation runs until 13th October.

Image: Alexander London