Have Your Say! Newham Consultation on Changes to Allocation Policy

 

Dear Resident 

The London Borough of Newham is proposing to make some changes to the Housing Allocations Policy and we want to hear your views.

You can have your say by clicking here:

https://www.newham.gov.uk/allocationsconsultation

Over 27,000 households are waiting for social housing in Newham. Only a small number of houses become available each year and we want to make sure they go to the residents who need them most.
We do this through the Housing Allocations Policy. This outlines who is allowed on the list, how they are prioritised and how the council allocates housing.

The proposals

We want to make some changes to this allocations policy to make sure it is fair. Full details of the proposed changes can be found here but in summary, the four main changes being proposed are:

1. Who can join the waiting list: currently you can join the waiting list if you have lived in Newham for two years, if you work in Newham or if you have family in Newham. We propose changing this so you can only join the list if you live in Newham for three years. There are some exceptions to the three-year rule.

2. Waiting time: We propose changing the way time on the waiting list contributes to your priority when you bid on properties. Waiting time before a housing need arises will not count.

3. Removing the advantage given to people in employment: currently households in employment have a higher priority when they bid for a property. We propose removing the priority given to people in employment, so that priority is based on housing need and time on the waiting list.

4. Creating a new category based on overcrowding: we propose giving a higher priority to households who are overcrowded plus one other reasonable preference (housing need). We define severe overcrowding as being short of two or more bedrooms.

The consultation

The consultation is open until Monday 4th January 2021. The council will consider the responses it receives. Recommendations will then be made to Cabinet members to help them make a decision. We expect this to happen in March 2021.

The London Borough of Newham have appointed independent research agency Savanta to host this consultation and collect feedback from residents.

You can participate in the consultation by clicking here.

You can also request a postal version of the questionnaire by contacting newhamconsultation@mysavanta.com or 0800 304 7488.

With kind regards,

Darren Levy
Director of Housing

London Borough of Newham
Newham Dockside
1000 Dockside Road
London
E16 2QU

Keep up to date with the most up to date safety information about the Coronavirus on the Newham Council website ( www.newham.gov.uk/coronavirus) or call the Covid-19 helpline on 020 7273 9711 (1-7pm, 7 days a week)

"A fairer future for housing – have your say on Newham Council’s housing ambitions"

"Building thousands more genuinely affordable council homes; defeating
homelessness; driving up standards, and making access to housing fairer are at the heart of two consultations launched today (Tuesday October 13) by Newham Council.

Residents are being urged to have their say on two ambitious plans that will help shape the future of housing across the borough.

The draft Housing Delivery Strategy underpins the Council’s commitment to investing millions in improving housing quality as it works to make Newham the best place for families to live and young people to grow up.

It sets out a raft of measures to: 

Put local people at the heart of housing – including co-design of regeneration schemes; greater support for residents in the private rented sector, and a tenants’ charter for council tenants

Build, buy and secure more and better homes for local people, including ensuring private developers deliver genuinely affordable housing for council rent 

Address the climate emergency by investing in green development and energy efficiency schemes for council and private homes 

Create a safer and more secure private sector, including ramping up the successful private rented sector licensing scheme 

Repair and refurbish sub-standard homes, with a focus on vulnerable adults and older people’s housing
Tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, and reduce the need for temporary accommodation

The council is also calling on the government to give local authorities necessary additional funding and greater freedom to borrow for investment in housing, and abolishing the unfair “Right to Buy” scheme that has seen thousands of homes removed from council ownership and passed on to private landlords.

Mayor of Newham Rokhsana Fiaz said: “The huge ambition of our Housing Strategy shows how serious we are about fixing a broken housing system and meeting residents’ aspirations for quality, genuinely affordable homes in Newham.

“We have made great progress against our commitments on housing, but our ambition doesn’t end there – we want to go even further to tackle the housing challenges faced by Newham residents and deliver high quality genuinely affordable council homes.

“Now more than ever, in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, Newham’s people deserve access to good quality, secure homes where they can put down roots. We are determined to deliver that, to drive out homelessness and to continue our calls for the freedom and financial backing we need from government to help our communities thrive for generations to come.

“I hope that as many residents as possible will have their say and help us shape the future of housing here in Newham.”

As part of its commitment to making access to council housing fairer, the Council is also proposing a transformation of its Housing Allocations Policy, which sets the criteria for people hoping to get a council home in the borough.

Proposed changes to the policy – which have also opened for consultation today – aim to tackle the housing crisis, reduce the waiting list and put Newham’s residents first by prioritising council housing applicants on the basis of their housing need.

The changes would include: 

Requiring people on the council housing waiting list to have lived in the borough for at least three years, with certain exceptions for vulnerable people 

Removing employment in the borough and family connections as qualifying criteria for a “local” connection 

Restricting accrual time for those without a housing need – meaning those on the housing waiting list would only start to accrue waiting time once they had an actual housing need 

Removing the “priority homeseeker in employment” category so that all homeseekers would be treated equally, including those unemployed or unable to work

Creating a new priority category focused on overcrowding – to tackle severe overcrowding, where families need two or more additional rooms

Newham’s Cabinet Member for Housing, Deputy Mayor John Gray, said: “Newham faces the UK’s most severe housing crisis and it’s unacceptable that many of our residents are stuck in unsuitable, poor quality and over-crowded housing.

“By making our allocations policy fairer, we can be sure that we are putting local people first and prioritising those with the greatest need. Together with our wider housing strategy, these proposals will help to improve housing in Newham.”

Both consultations will run until January 4, 2021. A series of resident engagement sessions will be confirmed shortly.

View the draft Housing Strategy consultation, including further information and the chance to have your say.

View the draft Housing Allocations Policy, including further information, FAQs and the chance to have your say.

Hat tip Newham Council and picture of Tanner Point, E13 following recent walkabout with local Cllrs

Newham Housing Points Scheme - Now and then

Hat tip picture to local photographer, Steve Lewis, and Newham History Society Facebook page. It would appear that this photo dates back to the late 1960s. I reckon that I am possibly the same age as that child.

Currently in Newham we are undertaking a review of our entire housing allocation policy. There will be extensive public consultation later this year.

We currently have 28000 households on our waiting list including 5100 homeless in temporary accommodation.

According to the photograph  91 (families?) were housing in June of that year. I wonder what the waiting list was then.