The Government has launched a consultation on reforms to social housing allocations. It has said: “Social housing is a scarce resource and therefore it must be allocated fairly. We are proposing changes to the allocations system so that it prioritises those who have a strong connection to the UK, their local area and those that do not disrupt communities through anti-social behaviour or terrorism offences.”
Measures could include:
- Evicting those who “blight communities and repeatedly make their neighbours’ lives hell” through anti-social behaviour (ASB) through a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ policy.
- People who have unspent convictions for certain criminal ASB or have been subject to certain civil sanctions could be disqualified from social housing for up to five years.
- The reforms include new UK and local connection tests to determine social housing eligibility, with applicants required to demonstrate a connection to the UK for at least ten years and their local area for at least two years.
- Prospective tenants on higher incomes could also no longer qualify for social housing, although existing tenants will not be affected.
This announcement follows a piece in the Express on 25 January in which Starmer says the current Government has lost control of ASB. He emphasised the damaging impact of ASB as it undermines respect and halts growth, with a recent poll revealing that one in ten people have been forced to move home due to persistent ASB. Starmer advocates for a rather different approach to Sunak to tackle the problem, instead proposing a Community Policing Guarantee, which will put a further 13,000 more neighbourhood police on our streets.
What's Abri's take?
“At Abri, we want everyone to feel safe in their own home and community. We know that anti-social behaviour (ASB) can have a huge impact on how safe our communities feel, so we take this subject extremely seriously. Our approach is about understanding that a range of factors can contribute to ASB; not least customer vulnerabilities.
"This isn't a challenge that social housing providers can respond to alone, which is why we work in partnership with other organisations to tackle poor behaviour and support victims. We take a customer-first approach and do all that we can to support customers to remain in their own homes, however we will take firm, fair and proportionate legal action when required. We’ll be responding to the Government’s consultation on reforms to social housing allocations to share our thoughts." - Jim Bruckel, Head of Customer Partnerships
Find out more about our approach to ASB here.
