News-Meeting County Durham's housing needs

We are proposing a comprehensive review of the process to ensure housing is allocated consistently and fairly to those in the greatest housing need.

Requirement of all authorities

A housing allocations scheme is a requirement of all authorities, setting out the council's eligibility, qualifying and housing need criteria, to ensure priority is fairly assigned.

It also sets out how decisions are made on how social housing is allocated and how we assess applications to the housing register.

In County Durham, a choice-based allocations scheme currently operates to allocate social housing to people on the housing register, as part of the Durham Key Options partnership.

This is made up of us and four key housing providers, who all believe a review to be necessary to respond to the current housing crisis and ease the sustained pressure on the supply of social housing.

Providing the right support to those who need it

Cllr James Rowlandson, Cabinet member for resources, investment and assets, said: "Our allocations policy was last reviewed in 2017 and a lot has changed in that time.

"A rising cost of living and a significant fall in the number of houses available to let has, unfortunately, led to more people waiting for housing. Since 2020, the number of people on the register has increased by around 30 per cent so it is vital that we review the policy to be able to provide the right support to those who need it.

"We hope that by working together we can adapt the allocations policy to allow people to access the right type of social housing, and in the right place. This will help to not only meet their needs but also prevent the wider issue of homelessness."

Seeking a range of views 

We hope to launch a consultation on the policy in the new year.

This will seek opinions on six key issues, including: the criteria to access the housing register, better use of social housing stock, local lettings policies, the priority of homelessness cases, the priority of medical and domestic abuse cases, and monitoring and service standards.

Housing providers, professionals, key stakeholders and members of the public will be given an opportunity to take part in the consultation.

Cabinet will be asked to agree to the allocations policy review and approve a public consultation when it meets next week.

If agreed, this will begin on 15 January for eight weeks, ahead of a second consultation starting in the summer.