Have your say on how social housing is allocated in Rother district

Rother District Council is consulting on a proposed new housing allocations policy, which sets out criteria used to determine how housing applications are assessed.

The main change sees the current arrangement of placing people in four priority groups – A, B, C and D – replaced with a simplified system where applicants are ranked as either ‘urgent’ or ‘waiting’.

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The draft policy also sets out the criteria people would need to meet to be considered for housing, and how ‘points’ are allocated which determine residents’ position on the waiting list.

Cllr Charles Clark, cabinet member for housing, welfare and equalities, said: “Demand for social housing in Rother is very high and there simply aren’t enough homes for everyone who wants one.

“While we’re working on getting more social housing in the district in the coming years, for now we need to prioritise applications and the allocations policy helps us decide who we can help first.

“The changes are intended to make our allocations policy fairer and clearer, but we’d like to know what people think before we make a decision on a final policy.”

The proposed policy states that residents would only be eligible to apply for housing if they are aged 18 or over and have a local connection to Rother, such as living or working in the district.

Applicants would only be placed in the ‘urgent’ category if they urgently need to move because, for example, they’re homeless in temporary accommodation, have an urgent medical need, or moving would free up a property needed for a disabled person.

Meanwhile, the policy sets out when people would be disqualified from applying for housing, including if they have provided false information in their application.

The district council has no housing stock of its own but its housing needs team maintains the register of applications for housing provided by social landlords.

The consultation runs until Monday, October 7 and can be completed online at www.rother.gov.uk/allocationspolicy.