Council Housing - Confused!

CornishWildFlower

Hi All,

From what I can gather, Wee Willy Harris seems to be the expert on this, have been following for a while but first posting.

We're a family of four, two parents, two children (boy and girl) we both work and earn approximately £23K gross p.a. not bad, but not great for the cost of living here (former Kerrier district, Cornwall) we currently privately rent a very small two bedroom house for £595pm and, last June, I registered with Cornwall Homechoice through the council website and we were allocated Band E. With housing as it is, I realise we stand little or no chance of 'council housing' (as it were) so to date I haven't bid on anything, although we have had the ability to place bids on certain properties. However, there is a new development of 6 x 3 bedroom houses in our village and the priority is a connection to this area, along with not having a criminal record/asbo for the last 5 years, they'll be offered through homechoice in the usual bidding fashion. What I'd like to know is, are these more along the lines of Housing Association properties in which case your banding matters less?

Sorry if I sound a bit thick, have read so much about it (affordable housing/social rented) that I've confused myself and don't want to get my hopes up!

Thanks in advance.

squinty

Hello,

The way that most Choice Based Letting systems work is that all social housing providers (Councils and Housing Associations) in the District use the same system to let properties.

So you would expect all the properties to be let through homechoice.

If, however, permission has been granted to these properties on the condition that they are let only to people with a local connection (however local is defined) the council/HA may have specical conditions for these few properties (perhaps called a local letting policy).

You really need to ask the council/HA how they will be allocated

puddy

are you the same person that went on holiday with the family and then registered for social housing in cornwall? apologies if not

Running_Horse

CornishWildFlower wrote: »

Wee Willy Harris seems to be the expert on this

Appointing yourself an expert and shouting down any dissent does not an expert make.

Just bumped another discussion you may find useful:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2593887

CornishWildFlower

squinty wrote: »

Hello,

The way that most Choice Based Letting systems work is that all social housing providers (Councils and Housing Associations) in the District use the same system to let properties.

So you would expect all the properties to be let through homechoice.

If, however, permission has been granted to these properties on the condition that they are let only to people with a local connection (however local is defined) the council/HA may have specical conditions for these few properties (perhaps called a local letting policy).

You really need to ask the council/HA how they will be allocated

Hi Squinty,

The priority is being given to people with a local connection to the village, even over those with a higher band, which is what was slightly confusing to me. Why bother with a banding system? The old system of council houses and housing association was clearer, to me at least.

Anyhow, we live here, work about 4 miles away, and the children go to school in a neighbouring parish and, as it's only a small village I'm guilty of getting my hopes up....always a foolish thing to do! Most round here are either really well off or in social housing, the private lets are more seasonal than long term. Thing is it's not the money, although our pips are squeaking as loudly as anybody elses, we're more than happy to work and pay. The thing that would really help would be the knowledge that we don't have to keep moving everytime a landlord decides to sell, move back, etc.

I guess I'll just have to keep my hopes in check and my fingers crossed. Thanks for your reply.

CornishWildFlower

puddy wrote: »

are you the same person that went on holiday with the family and then registered for social housing in cornwall? apologies if not

Hi,

Sadly no, beautiful as Cornwall is, if I were to do a moonlit flit whilst on holiday I'd be living in Cyprus. I have very fond memories of Fig Tree Bay :beer:
Shades of Withnail & I, "I think I've come on holiday by mistake"

CornishWildFlower

Running_Horse wrote: »

Appointing yourself an expert and shouting down any dissent does not an expert make.

Just bumped another discussion you may find useful:

Well, credit where credit's due, he does seem well versed on the subject, maybe he works in housing who knows! Thanks for the link, will have a look.

puddy

CornishWildFlower wrote: »

Hi,

Sadly no, beautiful as Cornwall is, if I were to do a moonlit flit whilst on holiday I'd be living in Cyprus. I have very fond memories of Fig Tree Bay :beer:
Shades of Withnail & I, "I think I've come on holiday by mistake"

my apologies then and hopefully things work out for you

CornishWildFlower

puddy wrote: »

my apologies then and hopefully things work out for you

No worries! I read the thread you're referring to and it certainly was a leap of faith, at best. My children, most likely, consider me to be a bit harsh at times but, I would never leave them without an income or a roof over their heads. However, identifying the splinter in someone else's eye is always easier than seeing the plank in your own and I hope that I never find myself in similar circumstances. If all were true, of course.

PasturesNew

The local connection is to stop people turning up in Cornwall from up country and expecting to be housed ahead of locals who've lived here for all their life/years.

CornishWildFlower

I can appreciate that however, I think they've really blurred things by having the council do all of the allocation. It might've been a good idea for the HA's to hold back some stock to let at a controlled market value to people like us and plough the profits back into their housing stock. Would work for them as they'd increase their stock at no cost to the taxpayer and, would work for us as we'd no longer be at the mercy of the holiday market or fickle LL's. In a perfect world eh?