A new way of allocating housing in North Somerset which
gives applicants greater choice goes live on 23 April.
HomeChoice North Somerset is a choice-based lettings system
which will allocate social housing based on a banding system rather
than the current points system.
The points system gave little choice to applicants who wait on
the Housing Register until they reached top and are offered the
next available property. It often results in people seeking
additional points in an attempt to enhance their position.
The new system works on a banding system, where applicants are
assessed and placed in a band (from one to four) according to their
housing need.
All 6,500 existing applicants on the Housing Register in North
Somerset have be contacted and invited to re-apply if they wish to
participate in the HomeChoice scheme.
Properties are advertised on a dedicated website and by a weekly
newsletter. Applicants are invited to register their interest or
“bid” for those properties in the banding for which they are
eligible. People applying will be able to use a variety of methods
such as by telephone, text and online.
Priority will be given to the person in the highest band
(therefore with the highest housing need) and having been the
longest on the register. The successful applicant will be offered
the property based on the length of time they have spent on the
register and in their band.
An important addition to the new lettings policy has been a
local connections element. The new scheme, whilst still complying
with the law and each application being assessed on housing need as
the primary consideration, moves an applicant with no local
connection to a band lower than the local applicant.
The scheme will go live on Thursday 23 April when the first
round of properties available will be advertised. These can be
viewed on the HomeChoice website at
www.homechoicensomerset.org.uk.
Hard copies of the newsletter will also be available at all
council libraries, The Campus in Locking Castle, Weston-super-Mare
and the Healthy Living Centre, some nshousing offices and the new
Housing Reception in Somerset House, Weston-super-Mare.
