Housing Allocations
The Council has a legal duty to consider housing need when we decide how we let our homes. We must also give reasonable preference to certain key groups of housing applicants.
Key facts
- Our lettings policy gives priority according to the time spent in housing need within broad bands of similar need
- The mismatch between supply and demand means that there are significant waiting times for all property types and sizes with the longest waits for those who need larger homes regardless of priority
- The proportion of homes that are likely to be let to statutory homeless households will remain very significant unless the supply of homes improves
- We will provide an opportunity for everyone to express preferences and make choices but these may be limited for some households
Hackney Choice
The Council introduced choice based lettings (CBL) in September 2006. The Hackney CBL scheme is called Hackney Choice. This is a major change in the way people and properties are matched together.
Under Hackney Choice applicants are still assessed according to housing need and placed into bands.
Most applicants are now expected to bid for advertised vacancies. Bids made for each property are ranked by bands and date order.
Since April 2007 older applicants, who have low level or no support needs, may bid for sheltered accommodation.
Full details of the Hackney Choice scheme can be viewed in the Hackney Choice section.
How We Let Our Homes
The Council must publish the rules we follow in deciding who to offer housing to and how offers are made and we must follow these rules. We can be legally challenged if we do not do so.
The How We Let Our Homes page explains our scheme. It covers the policies both for social housing tenants applying for transfers and those wishing to access housing.
On the page you will find six easy to understand publications, each explaining the separate parts of the scheme:
- How to apply for housing in Hackney
- How we assess your application
- How many bedrooms
- Medical priority
- Harassment and domestic violence
- Council interest priorities
Values and principles
Hackney Council is committed to moving towards and maintaining communities of mixed tenure.
We aim to ensure that all social housing;
- Meets the individual needs of the applicant
- Is affordable
- Is of high quality
- Is within a safe, secure and sustainable community
We will carry out our statutory obligations
As far as the supply of property permits, we will let all properties in ways that:
- Are guided by the housing needs of the applicants
- Respect the choice of the applicant with regard to where they wish to live
- Ensure that vulnerable people have appropriate support
- Ensure that the process whereby housing needs are assessed and homes are let is easily understood and is fair and transparent
- Provide as much information as possible to allow all applicants to make informed decisions
- Adopt a flexible approach to maximize the number of homes we have let and achieve best value for tenants
- Pursue every option for each individual fully whether locally or further afield
We will work with our housing association partners on the basis of these values and principals and continue to explore with them the scope for improving choice and mobility across the social rented sector in Hackney.
Page updated: 25 Jan 2008