An introduction to
Kent Homechoice
www.kenthomechoice.org.uk
What is Kent Homechoice?
• Kent Homechoice is the choice based lettings scheme
for council and housing association homes in Kent and
Medway.
• It is the largest scheme in the UK with 38 local authority
and housing association partners.
Registration
• Obtain an application form from:
– Local council office
– By calling or emailing the local council to have one
sent in the post
– By printing a copy from the council’s website
Assessment
• The council assesses the housing need of the applicant. Some do
this using bands and some use points.
• Each council will have an allocations policy to explain their eligibility
criteria and how they decide housing need.
• The council will register the applicant onto the scheme and write to
advise what band they are in or how many points they have.
• The applicant will be sent an information pack in the post which
explains how to take part in finding a home through the scheme.
Bidding
• An applicant can bid on three homes per fortnight.
• They are advertised every fortnight:
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Online at www.kenthomechoice.org.uk
On digital TV
At the Council reception area
Personalised freesheets
• Bids can be made all day Friday until the following
Wednesday at 1pm.
Bidding
• Bids can be made:
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Online at www.kenthomechoice.org.uk
By telephone
By text
By posting a special coupon
By digital TV
• You can only bid for properties in the area you are registered in.
• Someone else can submit a bid on your behalf.
Offer
• At the end of the bidding period, all bids for homes are put in priority
order to produce a list of eligible applicants for each property.
• The property will be offered to the bidder at the top of the list
(usually in the highest band or with the highest points and who has
been registered on the scheme for the longest).
• The successful applicant will be contacted by the council and invited
to view the property.
• If the applicant wishes to refuse the property they will not be
penalised for future bids. The property will instead be offered to the
next person on the list.
The demand for social housing
• The demand for council and housing association housing
far outweighs its supply.
• Since July 2008 13,885 households have been housed
through Kent Homechoice.
• There are currently 44,377 households on the 13
housing registers in Kent.
• The housing has to go to those in most need to be a fair
system.
• It can take time before many people are successful.
Reasonable preference
• Reasonable preference categories set out in 167 (2) of
the Housing Act 1996 include:
(a)
People who are homeless or owed certain duties under the
homelessness legislation
(b)
People who are owed a duty by any local authority under section
190(2), 193(2) or 195(2) of the 1996 Act (or under section 65(2) or
68(2) of the Housing Act 1985) or who are occupying accommodation
secured by any local authority under section 192(3)
(c)
People occupying insanitary or overcrowded housing or otherwise
living in unsatisfactory housing conditions
(d)
People who need to move on medical or welfare grounds, including
grounds relating to a disability
(e)
People who need to move to a particular locality in the district of the
local authority, where failure to meet that need would cause hardship
(to themselves or to others)
Reasonable preference
• Section167(2) also gives local authorities the
power to frame their allocation scheme so as to
give additional preference to particular
descriptions of people who fall within the
reasonable preference categories and who have
urgent housing needs.
The future
• Common Assessment Framework for Kent.
• Localism Bill:
– Greater powers to council’s to restrict access to
waiting lists (but will retain reasonable preference
categories)
– Greater powers to council’s to discharge
homelessness duty into the private rented sector
– Flexible tenancies
Questions?