More than 7,000 people on Shropshire Council's social housing list as policy to be reviewed
More than 7,000 people are on the social housing list in Shropshire, it has been revealed.
As of July 1, 7,222 households were on the waiting list, according to Shropshire Council. The authority and local registered providers use Shropshire HomePoint as the IT system to advertise social housing that is available and enable households to choose which properties to bid on each week.
Households are placed into ‘bands’ from one to seven depending on their housing need using criteria in the Shropshire allocations policy. This was last updated in 2022 and implemented the following year following an IT upgrade of the system.
The new Liberal Democrat administration says it has set a ‘clear focus’ on housing to ensure residents with needs receive support and help to secure affordable homes.
To deliver improvements, a review of the policy and the wider housing strategy is to be carried out in the autumn. The draft policy will then be shared with residents during a formal consultation ahead of it being presented to full council to be signed off.
Councillor James Owen, portfolio holder for housing and leisure said: “As a council, we have a statutory duty when it comes to housing to ensure that the most vulnerable residents can be placed in social housing, which the current team does an excellent job at fulfilling.
“However, increased pressures on people’s lives, as a result of issues such as the cost of living crisis, have led to the demand for this statutory duty to outstrip the supply of suitable social housing available within Shropshire.
“I do feel it is worth highlighting that HomePoint is not used to house refugees or those seeking asylum, as those services are dealt with by the Home Office, and not by local authorities and so do not contribute to the pressures reducing supply.
“A knock-on effect of the reduced supply is for those currently in social housing who may not be in a fully suitable property, for example, requiring one more bedroom due to their requirements, often struggle to be given a choice of any property locally and are being left on a growing waiting list for years.
“The effect of this is that we currently have one-bedroom occupying tenants being unable to move into a two-bedroom house that they need, while a two-bedroom house is overcrowded with tenants waiting for a three-bedroom house and so on.
“We need to break this cycle to free up more social housing to both fulfil our statutory duty, while also ensuring as many residents as possible are in suitable properties for their needs. The knock-on effects of having suitable, affordable, social housing in the areas that it is needed can be seen filtered through to outcomes in education, social care, employment and more.
“This is why it is such a key priority for me and the new administration to tackle this ongoing issue, including through reevaluating the HomePoint system, allocations policy and wider housing strategy. We will soon be bringing the draft into the public view to be scrutinised and together will develop a policy that works for the people of Shropshire.”
