Housing allocations policy consultation

Overview

We are currently reviewing our housing allocations policy and want your feedback on the proposed changes.

We are required to have a housing allocations policy to determine the procedures that are followed when assessing the eligibility of applicants and to allocate housing stock. The policy details how applicants, via the Bucks Home Choice scheme, can apply to the housing register, what the eligibility requirements are, how the assessment process works, and how housing is allocated.

View the current housing allocations policy on the Buckinghamshire Council website.

We are proposing the following changes to our allocations policy: 

• create a Buckinghamshire-wide housing area and remove legacy district boundaries
• increase the number of years to qualify for residency from two to five years
• introduce residency requirements for the over 55 exception group 
• strengthen the priority for households in temporary accommodation 
• strengthen the priority for households that have been assessed as homeless but are not in temporary accommodation 
• redefine the requirements for households under-occupying affordable housing that are willing to downsize 
• clarify when the Council may use automatic bidding to proactively match priority households with available housing 
• clarify when the Council may allocate a property directly to an applicant 
• revise bedroom standards for households with children over the age of 18

If the proposed policy changes are adopted, reregistration will be required, in which case applicants will be prompted to reregister when logging into their Bucks Home Choice application. The Choice Based Lettings team will then reassess their application against the provisions of the new policy and issue a reassessment decision which would include the right to a statutory review.

We want to hear feedback on the proposed changes from current and prospective housing tenants, Buckinghamshire residents, and our partners.

We are also making the following changes to comply with legislation and government guidance, and are therefore not consulting on them:

• update the local connection exceptions list to include households fleeing domestic violence (to comply with the Domestic Abuse Act 2021)
• updates to the local connection exceptions list to include households on government defined settlement schemes (e.g. Ukrainians, Afghans)​
• updates to the priority banding list to strengthen the priority given to armed forces veterans and their spouses

Related documents

Before you respond to this activity, please have a look at the following documents:

• Summary of proposed policy changes (PDF 0.8MB)
• Proposed allocations policy (PDF 0.43MB)

How to have your say

You can tell us your views in one of the following ways:

• complete the online survey using the link at the end of the page
• complete, and return, a printed version of the survey (PDF 0.46MB)

If you have any questions about this activity, please email us at housingconsulteecomments@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

Please tell us your views by 11:59pm on Thursday 22 August 2024.

What happens next

Once the consultation has closed, we will consider the comments received and make amendments to the draft policy where relevant. The policy will then be finalised and go forward for adoption at Council by the end of 2024.

Privacy

We will use the information you provide here only for this activity. We will store the information securely in line with data protection laws and will not share or publish any personal details. For more information about data and privacy, please see our Privacy Policy.

If you have questions about data and privacy, please email us on dataprotection@buckinghamshire.gov.uk. Or write to our Data Protection Officer at Buckinghamshire Council, The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8FF.