The number of households on the Council’s Homesearch register has tumbled to less than 4,000 following a wide ranging review of the way social housing is allocated in the area and an increase in local house building.
Local people are invited to bid for properties through the service.
Following town halls being given more freedom by the Government to decide how they allocate housing to meet the needs of their communities, the Council decided to:
- Give people who are local to our area better recognition on the list, meaning that some 2,700 not living or working here were removed instantly;
- Removing the majority of existing homeowners and people with significant financial resources;
- Offer priority to social housing tenants who live in homes that are too large to move to a smaller home.
- Review the list to ensure that only households genuinely looking for social housing are included.
The reduction is also partly down to an increase in new homes being completed – in 2012/13 some 550 were built, with 137 of these classed as affordable.
Councillor Tim Ball (Lib-Dem, Twerton), Cabinet Member for Homes and Planning, said: “We want local people to have priority for the social housing which becomes available now and over the coming years. Bath & North East Somerset Council has carried out an extensive exercise to shake-up the Homesearch Register so that it contains the people and families who are in genuine need of accommodation. The current list of less than four thousand is much more manageable and gives people greater hope that they will find the home they want.
“The lower figure is also as a result of over one thousand homes being built in our communities over the past two years with more than a third of these classed as affordable and a significant reduction in the number of empty properties. We anticipate a further 1,000 affordable homes to be built over the next five years to tackle housing register numbers further.”
As part of the exercise, the previous list of around 12,000 people was written to requesting them to update their registration on Homesearch. Anyone who has not yet updated their registration can still do so at: www.homesearchbathnes.org.uk
