Local communities are being encouraged to have their say about proposed changes to social housing that could free-up more housing for the people who most need it.
The proposals are consistent with the Coalition Government’s Localism Bill which aims to increase the supply of affordable housing across the country. Locally, there are more than 11,000 applicants and families on their waiting list, but only 600 properties are available to let every year. One in four lettings are only suitable for older people meaning that families and single people face great competition to find a home.
To help resolve these issues, some of the key aspects of the Council’s proposals that people can comment on are:
- Supporting social housing providers to offer Flexible Tenancies of no less than five years to all new tenants, except people who are old or have a long term illness disability, which would increase the number of affordable homes that can be let to people who need social housing as others move on to other forms of private sector housing or shared ownership;
- Restricting the social housing register to people who have a local connection and who can’t afford any other sort of housing;
- Changing how they prioritise people on the social housing register, particularly to help people to move whose home is too big for them, which would make good use of our social housing by matching people to the right size of home and could increase the number of family sized homes available to let.
Councillor Tim Ball (Lib-Dem, Twerton), Cabinet Member for Homes and Planning, said, “It is important that Bath & North East Somerset Council is proactive to ensure there are decent affordable homes available in the social sector for those who most need them. One part of our approach is to achieve our homes targets so that there is greater supply. The other part is to ensure fair access to local people to help avoid the situation where people have to move away from their families and places of work to find accommodation.
“The proposals the Council is putting forward for comment could help address the challenge the district faces. We will be listening to the feedback that people and organisations have.”
Have your say today…
A consultation on the proposals runs until 26th June 2012. It can be found online at: https://sslvpn.bathnes.gov.uk/http/consultations.bathnes.gov.uk/consult.ti/TenancyStrategy_AllocationScheme/consultationHome or paper copies can be obtained by calling 01225 396118.
The results of the consultation will be used to develop their policies and strategies that determine who gets social housing and the types of tenancies that they can have.
