Trafford Council’s Housing Allocation Policy was last reviewed in March 2013 and due to the changes to homelessness legislation through the new Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 (HRA), a further review is required.
The HRA came into force on 3 April 2018 and the new Act amends Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 which provides local authorities’ statutory duties when dealing with homelessness. The HRA amends and introduces a number of new duties, including:
- A duty to provide information and advice to all.
- A duty to formulate a Personal Housing Plan (PHP) for those applicants who are homeless or threatened with homelessness within 56 days.
- A duty to prevent homelessness within 56 days – ‘Prevention Duty’.
- A duty to relieve an applicants’ homelessness by helping them secure accommodation that would be available for them to occupy for a period of at least 6 months, within 56 days –‘Relief Duty’.
The Housing Allocation Policy explains the rules, criteria and procedure that determine how the Council will nominate households to social and affordable rented Registered Provider (RP) properties in the borough. Housing Options Service Trafford (HOST), who provides homelessness and housing advice on behalf of the Council, administer this policy. However the Council is responsible for producing the Policy and ensuring its implementation.
The Policy must adhere to a Legal Framework outlined in Part 6 of the 1996 Housing Act, an element of which mandates that certain groups of applicants must be given ‘reasonable preference’ in determining who is allocated properties. This already applies to people who are homeless and some who face losing their accommodation within 28 days, but the HRA extends this preference to all applicants who are threatened with homelessness within 56 days.
With this in mind, the Council is making some changes to their Allocations Policy and would like to hear your views on the proposed changes.
Please tell us your thoughts by completing the on-line survey
Your answers will be used to help shape the changes and will be treated in confidence.
The consultation deadline is Friday 21st September.
For more information contact the Housing Strategy & Growth Team at housing.strategy@trafford.gov.uk
Posted on Wednesday 15th August 2018