After a report from homelessness charity Crisis has drawn attention to the damaging side effects of England’s social houisng allocation policy, the government is considering adopting a new Scottish-style system.
In Scotland, social housing providers have a legal duty to house the homelessness, a difference that has meant that in Scotland 54% of social housing lets are to homeless households, compared to just 27% in England. Crisis’ report Moving the deckchairs Social housing allocations in England, put forward a large scale analysis of social housing allocations in England, revealing the self-destructive mechanisms that meant that some of the poorest and most vulnerable would be ineligible for social housing to begin with. Due to tight finances and resources, allocation has become rigid and constrained with a complex layer of pre-application checks, some of which look into potential residents’ financial situation and rental arrears.
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The report pointed out the complex layers of allocation policy at play, with a diverse range of policies across both housing providers and local authorities. When synergy was strong between providers and authorities, allocation could be a swift and straightforward process, however for providers that operate across multiple authorities, information was easy to lose and the web of requirements for potential tenants resulted in costly false starts, with homes staying empty far longer than they need to.
The government said that if joint working between councils and social landlords on nominations was not “operating effectively”, they would consider taking action to ensure that homes were going to those who need them most.
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Jasmine Basran, head of policy and campaigns at Crisis told Inside Housing:
“We’re pleased the UK government has recognised this in their new homelessness strategy and set out action to tackle it if needed. We have long called for ministers to consider laws similar to those in Scotland, which help ensure people who are homeless can access social homes.
“Such an approach in England would immediately bring down the number of people who are facing homelessness.
“We stand ready to support government to make sure people who are homeless can access existing and future social homes so we can end the injustice of homelessness.”
Crisis’ report emphasised the difference between England’s allocations compared with that of Scotland and Wales, which had a much higher degree of homeless households accepted for social housing due to less stringent barriers concerning financial history.
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