Purpose

To seek Executive approval for
the Draft Fareham Housing Allocations Policy to go forward for a period of
public consultation.

 

Under Part VI of the 1996 Housing
Act, all Local Authorities must have an allocations policy outlining how
priorities are determined and the procedure to be followed when allocating
accommodation.

 

The Draft Fareham Housing
Allocations Policy (the Policy) provides comprehensive information regarding
eligibility and the allocations process, the background and the relevant
legislation.  This includes the most up
to date position from Government on the Allocation of Social Housing within
England.

 

An ‘easy read’ version and
process chart have also now been produced as part of our compliance with the
Transparency, Infludence and Accountability standard set by the Regulator of
Social Housing.

 

This updates the information
already outlined on the Council’s webpages.

 

A period of 6 weeks public
consultation will be undertaken on the draft policy before it returns to the
Executive for formal adoption.

 

A period of 6 weeks public a consultation
will be undertaken on the draft policy before it returns to Executive for
formal adoption.

 

At its meeting on 3 April 2025,
the Housing Scrutiny Panel considered the Policy and a number of comments and
suggestions were made.  In the main these
were regarding the future impact of the policy on the waiting list and how the
Policy compared to other local authorities. 
Clarification on these points was provided at the meeting.  Members were also pleased to see a greater focus
on inclusion and suggested some minor formatting improvements.  Further details are outlined in the report.

 

 

Decision

RESOLVED that the Executive:

 

(a) 
notes
the feedback from the Housing Scrutiny Panel;

 

(b) 
approves
that the draft Fareham Housing Allocations Policy, as attached at Appendix A to
the report be put forward for public consultation; and

 

(c) 
agrees
that any minor changes to the Policy prior to public consultation are delegated
to the Director of Housing following consultation with the Executive Member for
Housing.