Agenda Reports Pack (Public) 15/10/2012, 19.00 - Meetings ...

Building a Housing Ladder of Opportunity – Housing Allocation SchemeIncome and Resources6.7 All prospective new tenants will be required to supply evidence of their financialincome and resources. Where applicants are not able to show current entitlementto Income Support, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit (and successorUniversal Credit), verification of income and savings will be required prior toapplicants being offered accommodation. Where applicants have resourcesconsidered sufficient to access low cost home ownership or other intermediatehousing option, the applicant will normally only be offered advice or assistance,or placed in Band 4 Advice on home ownership; sub market renting; and privatesector renting options will also be offered including opportunities to join theCouncil’s HomeBuy Register.6.8 Based on the Council’s current Homebuy Register of the gross income range of£19,000 to £61,400 which is required to access the register for low cost homeownership, the Council will discuss with the applicant (or joint applicants whereapplicable) market housing options. Where an applicant(s) gross income (orcombined gross income) are greater than £40,200 and their housingrequirements is for 2 bedroom accommodation or less, they will generally notqualify to access the Housing Register and will be offered advice on otherhousing options including joining the Home Buy Register. Applicants above thisincome level seeking this form of accommodation are considered to have accessto low cost home ownership. Where an applicant(s) gross income (or combinedgross income) is greater than £40,200 p.a., and their housing requirement is for 3bedrooms or more, they will qualify if their combined assets/savings are less than£4,000, representing the costs of accessing another housing tenure. In anyevent, applicants will not qualify if their income is above the top of the Home Buyincome range, currently £61,400. These income ranges and financial limits willbe reviewed annually and posted on the Council’s website.Where applicants are not eligible to access the Housing Register, they will beprovided with advice and assistance which is likely to include private sectorrenting and low cost home ownership opportunities. Where applicantssuccessfully access the HomeBuy Register, they may succeed in qualifying foran affordable rented opportunity under a Local Lettings Plan.6.9 When considering the allocation of accommodation, Housing Options Officers willreview applicants’ income and expenditure in order to assess their ability tosustain a proposed tenancy. The implementation of the Universal Credit regimewill cash limit eligible annual household benefits. If housing costs are consideredto be a disproportionate amount of eligible benefits, then the Housing OptionsOfficer will consider appropriate options for the household concerned. In allinstances, the Council will generally not be minded to allocate accommodationthat is too small for applicants’ needs (as set out in Annex 2). In exceptionalcircumstances, the Council will make such an allocation where the applicantmakes clear he/she is willing to take smaller accommodation than they need.28Page 411