The report of the Strategic Director (Growth & Development) is enclosed.

The Allocations Scheme is used to assess the eligibility and priority of applicants for the social housing the Council has available. The scheme was revised in 2007 (Minute Exe/07/134) and again in March 2010 (Minute Exe/10/35), with the current version coming into use in 2011. Since 2011, and using delegated authority, officers had made further minor amendments to the details but the policy had remained fundamentally the same for eight years.

A report from the Strategic Director, Growth and Development, explained why it was now felt that the Allocations Policy needed to be reviewed. The report looked at how the turnover of social housing had reduced whilst demand had increased. It described a process of engagement with stakeholders that had been used to develop a range of policy solutions, seeking to ensure that the proposals would not have a disproportionate effect on applicants with protected characteristics. It also described how the proposals were consulted upon with statutory organisations and with the wider public. The outcome of that work being a well-considered set of recommendations.

The report explained that city’s housing situation had changed significantly since 2011. There had been a significant rise in homelessness. The associated cost to the Council of households in temporary and supported accommodation were becoming unsustainable. Welfare reforms and rising private sector rents were also proving to be major challenges for people seeking new social housing. The turnover and availability of social homes had reduced significantly. The number of households on the housing register had risen by 27% over the previous four years, but there had been a 21% decrease in the number of homes that had become available for letting over that same time period.

Part 6 of the Housing Act 1996 requires local authorities to have an Allocations Policy that describes how social homes should be allocated and to give “reasonable preference” to certain groups of applicants:

·         people who need to move on welfare or medical grounds;

·         people who need to move to a particular area of the borough to avoid hardship;

·         people living in overcrowded, insanitary, or otherwise unsatisfactory housing; and

·         people who are homeless within the meaning of Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996.

The current policy therefore used six bands to decide the relative priority to be given to applicants for social housing.

Band 1 - applicants in real housing need (reasonable preference) who are in very urgent or emergency need to be rehoused.

Band 2 - applicants in real housing need (reasonable preference) who make a contribution to their community.

Band 3 - applicants in real housing need (reasonable preference) who do not contribute to their community.

Band 4 - applicants not in real housing need but who make a contribution to their community

Band 5 - applicants not in real housing need and who do not contribute to their community.

Band 6 - applicants demoted from bands 1-5.

Given the recognised need for the policy to be reviewed, a set of policy objectives were established for the review. These were that the revised policy:

·         continued to accord with legislation and statutory guidance;

·         provides the means of managing the allocation of a scarce resource (social housing) in a fair and equitable manner assisting those in most need;

·         be transparent and easy to understand;

·         accounted for the need to manage neighbourhoods;

·         accounted for the Homelessness Reduction Act, welfare reforms and the city’s Homelessness Strategy;

·         assisted the delivery of commitments in the “Our Manchester” Strategy and the Housing Strategy;

·         complied with local authority equality duties; and

·         had no unintended adverse impact on other housing practice.

The report described the process that had been used, and the partnership work that had been undertaken, to formulate the proposed revisions. The changes that had arisen from that work were detailed in a schedule of proposed changes appended to the report. The proposed changes related to the qualification rules within the policy, including introducing a two-year residency requirement; the relative priority for those who qualified, including the removal of the additional priority for community contributions; and revising the banding structure to be used, including changes to the application of ‘overcrowding’ assessments, reference to the council’s Homelessness Prevention duty, and accommodating ‘children at height’.

At the meeting it was confirmed that priority would continue to be given to needs that arose from cases of domestic violence and abuse.

Once the policy options had been identified there had been a 12-week consultation process with Registered Providers and the wider public, specifically including current applicants on the housing waiting list. The report explained that there had been over 2,500 responses to the consultation, from applicants, residents and organisations. A full analysis of the results was appended to the report as Appendix 1. Generally, the response to the proposed changes had been positive. The only proposed change where there was a mixed response related to the community contribution/working household priority. There was a relatively small majority in favour of removing this extra priority, as was being recommended.

The report also explained that an equalities impact assessment had been carried out to identify any unintended consequences of the proposed policy changes. The results of that assessment were detailed in the report.

The report concluded with an explanation of the timetable for further action, should the changes be approved, explaining when the revised policy would be fully in effect. That would be September 2020.

We noted that the Neighbourhoods and Environment Scrutiny Committee had considered the report at a recent meeting and had endorsed the recommendations (Minute NESC/19/43).

Having noted the basis of all the proposed revisions to the policy, the outcome of all the consultations and the findings of the equality impact assessment, the recommended changes to the policy were agreed.

Decisions

1.         To note the statutory and online consultation responses received.

2.         To approve the changes to the Housing Allocation Policy (the Policy) recommended within the report.

3.         To delegate to the Head of Housing Services and the City Solicitor authority to approve and complete the final and lawful version of the Policy.

4.         To note that the Equalities Impact Assessment shows no unintended or disproportionate effects are likely to arise for applicants with protected characteristics.