Councillors support plans to reform Doncaster council housing allocation

Doncaster councillors have heard and supported 14 key changes to the way council housing provider St Leger Homes allocates houses.

The proposals will now be heard in a cabinet meeting and take effect from April 1, 2023 if approved.

Changes were brought about by a greater demand for council housing due to the cost-of-living crisis meaning that many can no longer afford to rent privately.

They aim to put tenants in houses that better suit their needs and prioritise the most vulnerable.

Dave Richmond, chief executive of St Leger Homes, said that there are “more and more people approaching the council for housing, and less houses available”.

The proposed changes are as follows:

Incentivise tenants with surplus bedrooms to downsize properties. Advertise a certain number of properties to those exclusively in lower bands (lower priority). Ensure that large families take priority for the small number of larger properties available. Study why existing tenancies have failed to prevent it from happening. Move people homeless through no fault of their own into the platinum band (the highest priority band) as quickly as possible. Prevent landlords from abusing tenants’ vulnerable factors to get excessive housing support. Prioritise action against domestic abuse in homes. Prioritise those over 60 when allocating bungalows, followed by over 50s, over 40s, etc. Prioritise those in the armed forces and their spouses. Reduce the number of times people can turn down properties that they’ve placed bids on. Reduce the number of times people can turn down properties they’ve bid on from the accessible housing register. Find better ways to promote low demand properties. Set out a clear framework for why people may not be offered properties. Allow the council to suspend the housing register and ability to bid in emergency situations such as flooding.

St Leger representatives decided on the changes after a period of consultation from which they received 897 responses from the public.

As yet, it is still unclear at the present exactly how the changes would take place in practicality.

Councillors will officially vote on the changes in a cabinet meeting.