Purpose

Since 2012, the Council has
been part of the Merseyside sub-regional social housing allocations
scheme known as Property Pool Plus. Since that time, the scheme has
been amended on a number of occasions, principally in response to
legislative changes.
 
Following a review of
allocations across the City Region in 2019-2021, one of the
recommendations was for the partnership to implement a revised
Housing Allocations policy. This resulted in the approval and
implementation of a revised Property Pool Plus scheme policy and
upgraded IT system which was implemented on 8 January
2024.
 
Since implementation of the
policy, there has been a period of time which has allowed the
partner local authorities to evaluate the new policy. This has
identified that some amendments are required to improve
administration of the policy, and the proposal of three significant
changes which the partner local authorities expect will have an
impact on a substantial proportion of those people applying for
rehousing via Property Pool Plus.
 
The proposed significant
changes include the cohort of individuals who will be awarded a
Band A priority to include those who are accommodated in
commissioned supported homeless/ hostel accommodation who have been
assessed as ready for move on. This will facilitate the move on of
households from supported accommodation when they no longer need
the support available. This will support partner Councils by
helping to free up supported accommodation which can then be
allocated to those who require accommodation and
support.
 
The proposed changes would also
see amendments to the discretion criteria within the policy to
extend the scope to include exceptional welfare cases whereby
failing to apply discretion would otherwise result in significant
detriment to the applicant. Discretion is also to be extended to
provide local authorities the flexibility to implement pilot trials
and implement periods of direct lettings to key groups in order to
be able to respond effectively to emergencies/crisis situations and
trial new ways of working.
 
The reintroduction of the Cross
Boundary Mobility threshold is proposed to ensure that local
authorities are able to meet their local housing needs while still
enabling a degree of cross boundary mobility. A full list of the
proposed changes and clarifications are included within Appendix A
to this decision.
 
Approval of the proposed
revised sub-regional allocation scheme has been sought from each
partner local authority through their respective governance
structures prior to its implementation. 
For Knowsley, as the Council’s Allocation Scheme forms part
of the Policy Framework, the proposed changes were considered and
endorsed by the Inclusive Growth and Skills Scrutiny Committee on
12 November 2024 (i.e. in a “Review in a Day” session)
and the
Cabinet on 16 July 2025.  Ordinarily, the changes would be
submitted to a full meeting of the Council for formal approval
prior to being enacted; however, due to the timescales involved,
and to avoid any unnecessary delay to the implementation of the
revised Scheme across the relevant local authority areas, it is
proposed that the changes be approved as a matter of urgency in
accordance with the Council’s Constitution (Part 3 Section
4).  Subject to approval, the matter
will be reported to full Council for information at its next
ordinary meeting.

Decision

That the proposed revised changes to the
Property Pool Plus Allocation Scheme Rules be agreed.

Alternative options considered

N/A.