Purpose

This housing allocation policy sets out how
The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) assesses
applications for permanent social housing, prioritises these
applications and how decisions are made to allocate available
housing stock. RBWM is not a stock holding local authority. All
permanent social housing within the borough is owned and managed by
registered providers (housing associations). These are entirely
separate organisations to RBWM. RBWM’s access to the social
housing owned by these organisations is specified in a formal
nominations’ agreement between the borough and the individual
housing associations. In general terms, RBWM has access to a
proportion of the lettings which become available in the housing
associations stock located within the borough. There is a severe
disparity between the demand for permanent social housing and its
available supply. RBWM receives far more enquiries from households
seeking social housing than the numbers which are likely to gain
access to this type of accommodation. The main purpose of this
scheme is therefore to set out the basis on which nominations to
permanent social housing are made and how properties are
allocated.

Content

AGREED: That Cabinet
noted the report and:
i)            
Adopted the new social housing allocation policy as consulted
upon except for the proposed changes to the income and saving
levels.
ii)           
With respect to savings and income levels, retained the saving
limit of the current policy and suspend the income qualifications
for 2025/26.
iii)          
Modelled the effects of the proposed savings and income levels
and during 2025/26 and return to Cabinet no later than May 2026
with findings and proposals.
iv)          
Delegated to the Assistant Director for Housing and Public
Protection the task of introducing the new policy.