Housing Policies and Strategies

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Housing nominations policy

The council's Housing Nominations Policy sets out:

  • how the council assesses applications to its Housing Register and
  • the rules used to decide who from the Housing Register can be nominated to vacant homes owned by local housing associations

The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 (HRA17) comes into force into force on 3 April 2018 and new categories of applicants must be considered by the Housing Nominations Policy that did not exist before.  The new categories of applicants are those:

  • to whom the council owes a Prevention Duty under the HRA17, that is, they are threatened with homelessness in the next 56 days
  • to whom the council owes a Relief Duty under the HRA17, that is, they are actually homeless
  • who are care leavers under 21 years of age placed in the borough by another local authority under S22A of the Children Act 1989, that is, they have established a local connection, having been placed in the borough for at least 2 years and being between the ages of 16 and up to 21.

The Housing Nominations Policy places applicants into a number of bands, Bands A to E.  Band A is the highest priority.  From 3 April 2018, applications from the categories of applicants set out above will be accepted by the council on to its Housing Register and will be placed in Band D.  Housing Register applications are prioritised for any vacant housing association homes using the date they applied.  This means people who have been on the Housing Register in Band D longest will have higher priority than those who joined more recently.

The amendment to the Housing Nominations Policy to accept applications from these new categories of applicant and that they will be placed in Band D has been approved through the Mayor's delegated authority.  If you would like to read the approval it is available online.

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