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Housing Allocation Policy

CLTs are often motivated by the desire to house particular types or sizes of household considered by the community as important to retain or attract or for whom the housing available is not affordable. Examples might be young couples, middle-aged single people living alone, larger families or the elderly.

The demand for the CLT homes is likely to exceed the supply and a fair and defensible policy to decide on the lucky winners needs to be drawn up and agreed upon by the CLT itself.

Local authorities have mainly implemented 'choice-based letting' schemes. When a home becomes available through either the local authority. a housing association or other provider, it is advertised in the press and online. Interested households need to put their name forward, and a decision is then taken in accordance with the council’s policy. Whenffordable homes are provided through specific planning arrangements, applicants might need to have a 'local connection'.

Part-equity housing waiting lists are maintained by nominated housing associations who have details of all part-equity schemes available in their designated area of operation.
Some CLTs may favour working with the local authority and housing association and let them decide priorities, while making sure that all those households that the community itself is aware of have the opportunity to apply.

Most CLTs, however, prefer drawing up their own allocation policy and having the final decision on who should receive the housing offer. The definition of 'local connection' can then take account of particular local circumstances and preferences and a less rigid system may be devised where the criteria are set out but their relative weight is not fixed.

It is likely to be a requirement of any Homes and Communities Agency funding (and possibly also of the planning permission) that the CLT uses an allocation policy that is agreed with the local authority. This should not necessarily be a problem if the process and criteria can be seen to be fair. One option is also to give the local authority the right of veto so that the CLT decides on who should be offered a home but has to obtain the local authority housing department’s approcal on the decision.

An example of the High Bickington CPT housing allocations policy can be found here. Local connection, key worker status, and affordibilty are considired in this case key criteria for prioritising applications.