Housing Allocations Policy Review

The Council is reviewing its Allocations Policy and wants you to have your say!

This consultation is to seek your views on changes we could make to our Allocations Policy to help address some of the current challenges we are facing around social housing in Sheffield.

What is the Housing Allocations Policy?

The Housing Allocations Policy explains who will be offered Council and Registered Providers (Housing Associations) homes which become available for rent in Sheffield. It explains how we decide:

• Who can join our Housing Register.
• Where someone will be placed on our Housing Register. Currently we use a banding system to help us decide between people’s housing need.
• How those with an urgent need to move will be assessed. We call this priority rehousing.
• Which households are given ‘Reasonable preference’ (this is further explained below).
• How those who have expressed an interest in a property will be ranked. In Sheffield people do this through ‘bidding’ on the Sheffield Property Shop website.
• Who will be offered the properties that are advertised.
• How we deal with people who refuse an offer of a property

Information

• To be considered for social housing you must first join our Housing Register.
• Sheffield has a large Housing Register of 26,800 households.
• Since the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, all councils across England have seen demand for homes grow, but at the same time the number of properties becoming available to rent has reduced.

What does reasonable preference mean?

Reasonable preference means households, who fall within the categories below, must be given preference over others on our Housing Register. This is decided by the Government and all councils in England must follow this. In Sheffield we do this by awarding a priority.

The groups of people we must give reasonable preference to are:

• People who are homeless.
• People who are owed a homeless accommodation duty by any local authority.
• People living in insanitary or overcrowded housing or otherwise living in unsatisfactory housing conditions.
• People who need to move on health or welfare grounds, including grounds relating to a disability.
• People who need to move to a particular locality in the district of the local authority, where failure to meet that need would cause hardship to themselves or others.

Additional preference is also given to those who are or have served in the armed forces (who have an urgent priority need).

When was the Allocations Policy agreed?

The current Allocations Policy was agreed by the Council’s Cabinet in March 2013 and fully implemented in April 2016.

Why are we reviewing the Allocations Policy now?

The current Allocations Policy has not been fully reviewed since it was implemented. It is not as effective as it once was in managing the way social housing is allocated in Sheffield. This is because the demand for homes has increased and there are not enough homes available for people who need to move urgently.

We need your help to consider:

• How we can make the most effective use of this limited social housing.
• How we help those who need a new home urgently.
• Who should be able to join our Housing Register.
• How we can make better use of homes that have been adapted.
• If we should make changes to bedroom eligibility and succession rights to tenancies.
• Any other improvements we could make.

The responses received from this consultation will help us to draft a new Allocations Policy for Sheffield, which is in line with government policy, our legal responsibilities, the demand for social housing, and the Council’s commitments to ensure best use of social housing in Sheffield.

The answers you give will help to decide what changes we will make and this could mean:

• Fewer people will be able to join our Housing Register.
• People already on the Register may not be able to stay on.
• Who gets a priority for rehousing changes and some people now awarded one would not be in the future.
• Who we offer a home to could change.
• We change who can succeed to a Council tenancy.
• We reduce the number of bedrooms a household is eligible for.
• People with an urgent housing need are rehoused more quickly.
• We offer homes that are adapted to those who need those adaptations.

This consultation will be live until the 13th April 2025.