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PAPER K Purpose: For Decision

Committee EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Date TUESDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER 2014 Title OUTCOMES OF CONSULTATION ON THE PROPOSED

CHANGES TO THE HOUSING ALLOCATION POLICY Report to EXECUTIVE MEMBER FOR ADULT SOCIAL CARE AND

COMMUNITY WELLBEING

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. To consider the proposed changes to the Housing Allocation Policy with regard to the

allocation of social housing on the Island following a period of formal consultation and to recommend that the revised policy be adopted.

BACKGROUND 2. Local authorities are required under Section 166A(1) of the Housing Act 1996 to have an

allocation scheme for determining priority and they must allocate social housing in their district in accordance with that scheme under Section166A(14).

3. The Isle of Wight Council’s allocation scheme, known as the allocation policy, determines how an applicant’s housing needs are to be assessed and what priority they are to be given which determines where they are placed on the housing register or waiting list.

4. In April 2010 the council, in partnership with Spectrum Housing Group, Southern Housing Group and Vectis Housing Association, implemented a revised allocation policy in conjunction with the introduction of a choice based lettings scheme to replace the previous housing register (see Appendix 1). This scheme is known as the Island HomeFinder scheme.

5. The Localism Act 2011 introduced new regulations which allows local authorities to shape their allocations policies to ensure that best use is made of local housing to meet the needs of local people in housing need. This, together with a timely need to review the operation of the Island HomeFinder scheme that has been in place for the past four years, has led to proposals being considered to amend the policy with regard to the allocation of social housing on the Island.

6. In order for the council to make an informed decision on the proposals, a consultation process has been carried out with service users, support providers and other stakeholders.

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7. This report serves to report on the changes proposed, the consultation carried out and to

seek adoption of the revised allocation policy (Appendix 2). STRATEGIC CONTEXT 8. The revision of the Housing Allocation Policy will contribute to the Isle of Wight Council’s

Corporate Plan 2014-17 with regard to meeting Priority 7 Delivering Statutory Duties and Delivering Value for Money.

CONSULTATION 9. The proposed changes to the Island HomeFinder Allocation Policy went out to consultation

on 13 June 2014 and closed on 20 July 2014 and the survey issued can be seen at Appendix 3.

10. A total of 8,964 letters were sent directly to Island HomeFinder applicants advising them of

the consultation and inviting them to have their say and directing them to an on line survey. Eighty-nine stakeholders were also contacted and invited to give their views or support there service users with the consultation. These included housing providers, adults and children’s social care, substance misuse services, health services, support services, the MP’s office, church, community and ethnic minority groups.

11. There were a total of 235 responses. Paper copies were also offered to those who had

difficulty accessing on line services and of the total responses 16 were received on paper surveys.

12. In the main respondents agreed with each proposal made apart from the following:

(a) The award of minor overcrowding. Minor overcrowding applies to households, excluding those in temporary accommodation provided via a homeless application, who need at least one more bedroom to accommodate their family than offered by their current housing, according to the Allocation Policy. Generally this was agreed with, but some people questioned why we would give this to applicants who lived off Island. Section 167(2) of the Housing Act 1996, Part 6, requires that reasonable preference has to be given to certain categories of applicants, those who are overcrowded being one category. The council is therefore unable to ‘opt out’ of giving this preference to anyone who is eligible to join the housing register. However, with the proposed changes to the allocation policy, mainland applicants would have to meet the proposed local connection criteria to become a qualifying person in order to be placed on the register and therefore if overcrowded they would then be entitled to preference for this reason.

(b) Applicants in ‘move on’ accommodation not being awarded a ‘move on’ preference

if they were placed there, through a homeless or homelessness prevention duty.

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‘Move on’ accommodation is accommodation in a supported housing scheme or hostel where applicants are considered to be ready to ‘move on’ from that scheme to independent living. In the main respondents did agree with this proposal although there was a high number of ‘neither agree nor disagree’ responses. This could be because respondents may not have been fully aware to form an opinion of the complexity of the legislation surrounding homeless households and the duty a local authority has to ensure that suitable accommodation is made available to those accepted as homeless therefore negating the need for ‘move on’ preference to increase their prospects of housing.

(c) Limiting the number of bids that applicants can make on advertised properties. The

opinion on this was split, with a slight majority in favour of not limiting the number of bids. This amendment was proposed by the housing associations in order to make the shortlisting process for identifying prospective tenants easier. While it has been proposed to limit the number of bids that applicants can make during a weekly advertising cycle to three, it has been evidenced that if it was decided not to, it would not make a great impact as bidding history shows that a person only has on average three to four properties that they could bid on during a normal advertising week (ie when we don’t have large developments to let). The housing associations would therefore be agreeable to not limiting bids as the electronic processes to support shortlisting can be made more streamlined to assist with the process.

13. Eighty-seven individual comments were also received which have been broken down in to

common themes, so that responses and feedback can be given post consultation. This was because a large number of the comments contained personal remarks from individuals about their housing circumstances which were not appropriate to include in public responses but the relevant material issues raised are appended to this report in Appendix 4.

14. The common themes on comments and responses can be seen in the consultation results document under ‘You Said - We Did….’ shown at Appendix 4.

15. This paper therefore seeks adoption of the revised Allocation Policy with all amendments except the proposals to limit an applicant’s ability to bid on vacant properties.

FINANCIAL / BUDGET IMPLICATIONS 16. The Island HomeFinder scheme is currently funded jointly with partner housing

associations. The council, Southern Housing Group and Spectrum Housing Group (the latter being the largest two housing association letting accommodation through the scheme) each contribute one third of the annual budget currently amounting to £29,880 for 2014-15.

17. Vectis Housing Association, the fourth partner to the scheme, contributes £50 per

advertised property, as do other housing associations who advertise their properties through the scheme. The budget covers annual hosting and maintenance costs for the

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web based database, which operates the allocations scheme and ongoing updates when identified and required.

18. If the proposed changes to the allocation policy are implemented this will require an update of the database. Whether this will involve an update of the current version or and upgrade to a newer version will depend on the agreed changes that need to be made which will need configuring in to the system in the most cost effective way. Either way a one off cost will be incurred which will be met jointly in partnership with the housing associations with the council’s share being met from the IHF computer maintenance budget and any surplus required from the Homelessness Prevention fund as the database also incorporates homelessness and advice and prevention functions.. Annual hosting and maintenance costs will continue to be met as before.

19. Provisional estimates of the costs have yet to be finalised and obtained from Abritas, the database system provider as final costings cannot be calculated until it is agreed what policy changes need to be made. However, initial information indicates that the maximum cost would be incurred if an upgrade of the system is required which would amount to the region of £24K.

20. In addition to the financial cost of updating the database there is the cost in terms of staff resources, which will involve re-assessing the needs of the applicants currently registered on Island HomeFinder scheme against the new allocations policy. This will be subsumed within current staff resources but members should note that this may cause a backlog of processing applications for a period of time whilst the new or updated system is incorporated and developed.

21. If the changes are not implemented then there will be no additional cost in respect of reconfiguring the database to meet the changes and no additional pressure on staff resources to re-assess the housing needs of the applicants currently registered.

LEGAL IMPLICATIONS 22. The council as local housing authority is required under Section 166A of the Housing Act

1996 to have an allocation scheme for determining priorities, and as to the procedure to be followed, in allocating accommodation. This must include all aspects of the allocation process, including the persons or descriptions of persons by whom decisions are taken. The scheme must include a statement of the authority’s policy on offering people who are to be allocated housing accommodation a choice of housing accommodation; or the opportunity to express preferences about the housing accommodation to be allocated to them. The council must allocate accommodation in accordance with that scheme under Section166A(14).

23. Under Section 169 of the Housing Act 1996 housing authorities are also required to have regard to any guidance issued by the Secretary of State. The latest statutory guidance is the Allocation of accommodation: guidance for local housing authorities in England 2012, which reflects the changes made by the Localism Act 2011.

24. The changes made by the Localism Act 2011 allows councils to better manage their housing waiting list by giving them the power locally to determine which applicants do or do not qualify for an allocation of social housing while maintaining the protection by the statutory reasonable preference criteria ensuring that priority for social housing goes to

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those greatest in need. The revisions seek to allow authorities to operate a more focused list which better reflects local circumstances and can be understood more readily by local people. It will also be easier for authorities to manage unrealistic expectations by excluding people who have little or no prospect of being allocated accommodation.

25. In December 2013 the Department of Communities and Local Government published a

document entitled Providing Social Housing for Local People: Statutory Guidance on Social Housing Allocations for Local Authorities in England which provided guidance intended to assist local authorities to make full use of the flexibilities within the allocation legislation to better meet the needs of their local residents and their local community.

26. Despite being able to make these changes the council is required to ensure that it does not exclude serving or previously serving members of the armed forces. This exception also includes bereaved spouses or civil partners leaving Ministry of Defence accommodation following the death of their spouse or partner whose death was wholly or partly attributable to the service. Additionally this exception also includes serving or previously serving members of the reserve forces who need to move because of serious injury, illness or disability sustained wholly or partly as a result of their service. In accordance with The Allocation of Housing (Qualification Criteria for Armed Forces) (England) Regulations 2012, serving or previously serving members of the armed forces and their families should not be disadvantaged in joining the housing register on the grounds of local connection.

27. Furthermore, the council needs to consider that those fleeing domestic violence or subject

to assistance of a witness protection plan or moving to receive or give support on health or welfare grounds may also have exceptional circumstances to warrant exemption to the qualifying person criteria.

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY 28. The council, as a public body, is required to meet its statutory obligations under the

Equality Act 2010 to have due regard to eliminate unlawful discrimination, promote equal opportunities between people from different groups and to foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

29. Under the Equality Act 2010 we are required to have due regard to our equality duties

when making decisions, reviewing services, undertaking projects, developing and reviewing policies. An equality impact assessment has been undertaken and is attached as Appendix 5.

30. It has been identified that while there may be negative impacts on those who may no longer qualify to be considered for housing, this is not based on their diversity strand but on their local connection. This may result in a positive impact on those who do remain eligible to apply for housing as their position on the register may improve, but again, this is not based on any particular diversity strand.

31. The changes do not absolve the council from recognising the need to give reasonable preference to those eligible households in housing need or to recognise those who may be exempt from any local connection criteria being set.

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32. These changes have been made in accordance with the Localism Act 2011 which amends

the Housing Act 1996 and any impact is therefore unintentional and lawful. SECTION 17 CRIME AND DISORDER ACT, 1998 33. Section 17 of the Crime And Disorder Act 1998 (as amended by Police and Justice Act

2006) provides that: ‘…it shall be the duty of each authority ... to exercise its various functions with due regard to the likely effect of the exercise of those functions on, and the need to do all it reasonably can to prevent, crime, disorder, anti-social behaviour adversely affecting the environment, and substance misuse in its area’. Changes to primary legislation brought about by the Policing and Crime Act 2009 extended this statutory duty from 1 April 2010 to include reducing re-offending.

34. The changes described in the report will allow the disqualification of households from joining the Islands housing register if they have been involved in behaviour of an anti-social nature that would render them unsuitable to be a tenant. The Housing Allocation Policy seeks to dis-incentivise criminal activity, which in doing so may help to reduce the levels of crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour adversely affecting the environment on the Isle of Wight. The changes will hope to incentivise good behaviour on behalf of those seeking housing on the Island.

OPTIONS 35. The options available to the council are as follows:

(a) Not to approve the proposed changes and continue with the current allocation

policy.

(b) To adopt the revised allocation policy at Appendix 2 RISK MANAGEMENT 36. Failure to implement the changes to the allocation policy may see the demand for housing

on the Island continue to rise. In April 2010 when the Island HomeFinder scheme was implemented there were in the region of 3,500 applicants registered for housing. This has risen to 8,267 active applicants currently registered. In comparison there has only been an average of 423 properties allocated each year through Island HomeFinder since the scheme commenced indicating that demand is far exceeding supply.

37. It also has to be considered that many other local authorities in England will also be implementing allocation policies that reflect local need and restricting who is eligible to join their registers. All the housing authorities in Hampshire have developed their allocation policies to take in to account applicants requiring a local connection to be eligible to apply. If other councils fail to follow suit they may see an influx of applicants to their open registers. This will not only increase the workload that housing staff will have to undertake processing applications but will also give unrealistic expectations to applicants seeking housing on the island as there will be insufficient homes to meet the demand.

38. Implementing the changes will allow a more streamlined, local allocation policy ensuring that priority goes to those in greatest housing need.

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39. Housing and family support services will provide advice and assistance to those who do

not qualify to join the register or who no longer qualify to remain on the register in order for them to resolve their housing situations by alternative means other than by an allocation of social housing.

EVALUATION 40. Option (a) is not being recommended as the preferred option because failure to consider

the ability to shape the Housing Allocation Policy to take in to account local needs when allocating housing will mean that local needs are not being met whilst giving preference those with the greatest need.

41. Option (b) is being recommended as the preferred option as this better reflects local circumstances and can be understood more readily by local people. It is also considered to be easier for the council, as housing authority, to better manage unrealistic expectations by excluding people who have little or no prospect of being allocated accommodation. This will ensure that while those in highest housing need are given preference for housing, local need is also being met. This will ensure that best use is made of the limited social housing stock on the Island.

42. There were no other options presented for consideration during the consultation process.

RECOMMENDATION 43. Option (b): To adopt the revised housing allocation policy at Appendix 2.

APPENDICES ATTACHED 44. Appendix 1 – Current Housing Allocations Policy.

45. Appendix 2 – Revised Housing Allocations Policy

46. Appendix 3 – Consultation survey.

47. Appendix 4 – Consultation results.

48. Appendix 5 – Equality impact assessment. BACKGROUND PAPERS 49. Allocation of accommodation: guidance for local housing authorities in England 2012

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/5918/2171391.pdf

50. Corporate Plan 2014-17 The Allocation of Housing (Qualification Criteria for Armed

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51. Forces Personnel) (England) Regulations 2012https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/8417/2060709.pdf Statutory guidance on social housing allocations for local

52. authorities in England 2013 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/269035/131219_circular_for_pdf.pdf

Contact Point: Val Bell, Commissioner for Housing Needs 01983 821000 ext. 6912 e-mail val.bell@iow.gov.uk

MARK HOWELL Head of Adult Social Care and

Community Wellbeing

COUNCILLOR STEPHEN STUBBINGS Executive Member for Adult Social Care and

Community Wellbeing