BOROUGH OF POOLE

REPORT TO COMMUNITY SUPPORT OVERVIEW GROUP

23 NOVEMBER 2004

REPORT OF HEAD OF HOUSING & COMMUNITY SERVICES

HOME CHOICE REVIEW

  1. Purpose of the Report

1.1The purpose of this report is to update Members on the progress made with the implementation of the Borough’s Choice Based Lettings Scheme.

  1. Recommendations

2.1Members are asked to note the contents of the report in respect of Home Choice’s first seven months.

2.2Members are asked to approve the continued use of the Home Choice scheme for the next 12 months.

  1. Background

3.1The Community Support Overview Group and subsequently, Cabinet, approved the implementation of Home Choice across the Borough, in October 2003.

3.2The implementation of Home Choice was recommended to Members as part of a report detailing proposals following a comprehensive review of the allocations policy, which included wide spread consultation.

3.3The review came about as a result of the Best Value Review of Homelessness and Allocations, carried out in 2001, and changes in legislation which were brought about as a result of the Homelessness Act 2002, which made amendments to Part 6 of the Housing Act 1996, which sets out how Housing Authorities should deal with allocations.

3.4Members agreed for a new allocations policy to be implemented, which worked on the basis of date order and priority cards, rather than the previously used points based system.

3.5The date order allocations policy was implemented in December 2003, and Home Choice was implemented in February 2004.

  1. Date Order Allocations Policy and Priority Cards

4.1The purpose of implementing a date order priority system was to remove the incentive for applicants to chase points and to encourage them to resolve their own housing situation, without removing any of their priority on the housing register.

4.2The new policy has been in operation for the last ten months, and has been enthusiastically accepted by applicants on the housing register.

4.3A survey carried out as part of the Allocations Policy review, found that 53% of the respondents thought that a date order system was a fairer way of prioritising applications on the Housing Register. A new survey is currently being carried out to obtain applicants views on this now the system has been in operation for some time. Results of this survey will be reported to Members at Community Support Overview Group on the 23rd November.

4.4The Homelessness Act 2002 set out categories which Housing Authorities are required to give ‘reasonable preference’ to, and so as part of the date order system, Priority Cards were introduced to take account of this requirement.

4.5A Priority Panel was set up which comprises of a group of professionals from Social, Health, Medical, Housing Services and Housing Associations. The purpose of the panel is to consider cases where medical or social priority should be awarded. All other reasonable preference groups are included within the Priority Card system and are considered within the specific criteria applied to each group.

4.6The Priority Panel meets on a monthly basis and Housing and Community Services employs a part time member of staff who assesses applications for Priority Card status and makes recommendations to the Panel. To date, 161 cases have been referred to the panel, and 22 have been awarded a Priority Card, the majority of those cases, having now been made an offer

4.7A system of banding was also implemented with the date order policy. Applicants are banded into red, amber or green bands according to their priority on the list, determined by the date of their application or through being awarded a priority card. This allows applicants to make their own assessment of their position on the Housing Register. Currently the Housing Register is split as follows;

Green Band (Applicants who have been on the Housing Register for more than 10 years, or those with a Priority Card) = 7%

Amber Band (Applicants who have been on the Housing Register between 2 and 10 years) = 40%

Red Band (Applicants who have been on the Housing Register for less than 2 years) = 53%

4.8One of the objectives of the Priority Panel and Priority Card system was to reduce the number of applicants awarded priority for immediate re-housing, which was unrealistic and status which applicants often maintained for, in some cases, a number of years. Under the previous system of awarding 500 points to applicants assessed as being in the most urgent need, 4 applicants were awarded this status on average each month. Since the Priority Card system was introduced, an average of 2 per month are awarded. This ensures that more allocations are available to those on the date order system and that a more robust system of assessment is being applied.

4.9The benefits of the introduction of the date order system can be summarised as follows;

  • Easy to explain and to understand
  • Meets legislative requirements
  • No perverse incentives
  • Reduces chances of ‘leapfrogging’

4.10The Survey currently being undertaken will test the views of Housing Register Applicants on aspects of the date order system and results will be reported to Members at Community Support Overview Group on the 23rd November.

  1. Home Choice

5.1Home Choice was implemented in February 2004. Properties are advertised weekly on notice boards in the Civic Centre Housing reception, in Libraries around the Borough, on a dedicated Home Choice phone line, and on the Borough’s website.

5.2We are currently surveying applicants to establish whether they are happy with the way they are currently able to access information about properties available. Results will be reported to Members on the 23rd November.

5.3An indication of how widely used the scheme is can be illustrated by the number of phone calls to the Home Choice phone line. To date, 8660 calls have been made to the phone line. This is also encouraging in that people clearly find this a useful way of accessing information about properties available.

5.4To date, 318 properties have been advertised through Home Choice. The following table gives a breakdown of the properties advertised and the number of bids received per property type;

Property Type / Property Size / Bids / Total Properties Available
General Needs / 1 bed / 1115 / 46
2 bed / 1660 / 76
3 bed / 938 / 28
4 bed / 55 / 4
Sheltered / 1 bed / 1067 / 159
2 bed / 13 / 4
3 bed / 4 / 1
Total / 4852 / 318

5.5The objectives of the Home Choice scheme at its inception were;

a)To allow applicants to make informed, realistic choices about how and where they are housed

b)To address local demands

c)To reduce refusal rates

d)To improve allocations and nominations performance

e)Contribute towards creating sustainable communities

5.6The performance outlined below demonstrates that the scheme has been successful in achieving its objectives to date;

a)In order to consider whether Home Choice allows applicants to make informed and realistic choices about how and where they are re-housed, we have asked for feedback in the survey being carried out and will feed this back to Members during the 23rd November meeting. However, the indications are that applicants are very happy with the scheme. Staff find it easier to explain an applicant’s position on the list and the Housing Advice team have reported that Home Choice is useful in presenting Housing Options.

b)We are quickly building a picture of local demand for accommodation using the Home Choice system. This will be a useful tool in respect of asset management exercises and the development of new affordable housing.

c)Refusal rates are currently at 15%. At the beginning of the financial year, we set ourselves a target of 17.5% as a refusal rate. This is clearly a very good performance and shows that an important objective is being achieved, particularly when the current rate of refusals is compared to that of the previous year, before Home Choice, of 34%. It is also worth noting that this performance is expected to improve further, as for the months of August and September, there were no refusals of offers made.

d)During the financial year leading up to the implementation of Home Choice, the allocations team were making 77% of nominations to both Council and Housing Association re-lets within 5 days of the request for a nomination. To accommodate the advertising process for Home Choice, this timescale was extended to 10 days, further to consultation with Poole Housing Partnership and partner RSL’s. The performance of the allocations team in terms of nominations made within 10 days of the request for a nomination has dropped very slightly to 75%. Whilst this is disappointing, particularly as we had set ourselves a target of 90% for the year, there are factors to take into account which explain the drop in performance and give an optimistic expectation for improvement, those being that the allocations team have reviewed the allocations policy and implemented Home Choice across the last two years whilst maintaining their existing workload. In addition to this, the change management skills required to implement a change of this nature, which affects so many stakeholders of the allocations service, should not be underestimated. Under these circumstances, a sustained level of performance should be considered to be positive. The Housing Resources Team are currently working to analyse why slippages occur and working through an action plan to ensure that performance improves.

e)It is difficult to find indicators, particularly during these still early days of the scheme, to support this as an objective specifically. Poole Housing Partnership have recently advised us that their new tenant satisfaction level has increased since the implementation of Home Choice, something which was noted by the Audit Commission during a recent inspection. This, along with the fact that Home Choice simply allows people to choose where they want to live, would suggest that as far as lettings can have an impact of sustainable communities, Home Choice is making a positive contribution.

  1. Assisted List and Access to Home Choice

6.1The Assisted List was set up to ensure that all applicants are able to fairly access properties through Home Choice. If an applicant is unable to submit Home Choice bids themselves, and is unable to find a family member, friend, or supporter to assist them, the Housing Resources Team will place bids on their behalf.

6.2There are currently 38 applicants on the Assisted List, and since Home Choice began, the Assisted List has enabled 8 applicants to be re-housed through Home Choice.

6.3We also make all information relating to Home Choice available in Large Print, on Audio tapes, and translation of all of our material is available where necessary.

6.4During the recent Poole Housing Partnership inspection by the Audit Commission, the Assisted List was highlighted as an area of strength.

  1. Cost Implications

7.1Home Choice was implemented and is now administered with a very low budget. The annual cost of running the scheme is £5000. This is the amount saved through efficiencies achieved by implementing the date order system, and therefore Home Choice represents no additional cost to the Council.

7.2During the Best Value Review of Homelessness and Allocations in 2001, it was established that the cost of making an allocation was approximately £200. Through the implementation of Home Choice, which has reduced refusal rates and makes the process of making an allocation far simpler and more accurate, that cost has been halved. The Housing Resources Team have been able to take on additional roles in respect of provision of housing for those in need, and therefore, the scheme demonstrates an added value to the Council.

  1. Stakeholders Feedback

8.1Stakeholders of the Home Choice service have been overwhelmingly supportive of the scheme through implementation and during its first few months. Feedback from Housing Associations, who rely on the scheme for nominations to their vacant properties, were consulted at a recent forum, and the feedback was very encouraging. In fact, they report that they believe that their void turnaround times will have improved as a result of the scheme, meaning that the scheme has not just added value to the Council, but also to it’s Housing Association partners.

8.2Home Choice was also discussed during focus groups at this years Annual Housing and Community Services Stakeholders Day, and again, received a very positive response.

8.3Local Authorities across Dorset have asked the Housing Resources team to attend meetings to share their experiences of Choice based Lettings and the scheme is considered to be an example of best practice.

8.4The results of the survey which will be reported to Members on the 23rd November will give feedback from the applicants perspective directly.

  1. Conclusions

9.1The date order system accompanied by Priority Cards allows a far more simplistic, yet affective way of prioritising applications on the Housing Register. Banding allows applicants to assess their own position on the list and enables staff to give more reliable advice.

9.2A date order system also allows applicants to see a potentially positive outcome from their application, albeit in the majority of cases, several years down the line. This allows advice to be given to applicants about resolving their current housing situations, whilst maintaining their position on the list and working towards a secure and affordable home.

9.3The Priority Panel is an affective way of assessing priority and ensures that only those in the most significant housing need, who’s situation could only be eased or resolved by an allocation of a Council or housing Association Property, are given fast-tracked access.

9.4Home Choice has been positively accepted by all stakeholders of the service, and is praised, in particular, because of what it delivers accompanied by the fact that it represents excellent value for money. Many Choice based Lettings Schemes have been implemented and are run at a considerable cost. Poole’s scheme uses existing IT and savings made through reviewing its Allocations Policy , and costs are kept to a minimum. Reduction in refusal rates and in the cost of making an allocation mean that further savings are to be made.

9.5Finally, Home Choice does what it set out to do for the people on our Housing Register. It allows applicants the choice of where they are re-housed. It gives them reliable information on what their position is on the list, and for specific properties, through banding. In short, it delivers everything applicants told us they wanted from an Allocations system throughout our consultation during the Allocations Policy review.

SIMON HENDEY

HEAD OF HOUSING & COMMUNITY SERVICES

23RD NOVEMBER 2004

Kelly Ansell

Housing Resources Manager

Background Papers

Housing Act 1996 Part 6, amended by the Homelessness Act 2002

Reports to CSOG and Cabinet, Oct 2003

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