Issue - meetings

The Executive Member for Adult Social Care considered a report regarding the Letting Affordable Housing - Policy Update.

The purpose of the report was to provide context and outline the proposed changes to the Common Allocation Policy (CAP), a copy of which was shown at Appendix 1 of the report.

The proposal supported the ambitions of ‘A Successful and Ambitious Town’ by ensuring that the allocation of social housing met the demand of those in housing need.

Due to rising demand for social/affordable rented housing, it was essential that the CAP remained relevant, adhered to national policy and, vitally, met Middlesbrough’s local housing needs.  The Partnership had recently undertaken a review of the current CAP to ensure it had a policy that was fair, clear and helped those who needed social/affordable housing most.  The review was informed by consultation with applicants registered on Tees Valley Home Finder, key partners and stakeholders.

Middlesbrough Council was a member of the Tees Valley Lettings Partnership and collectively operated a CAP, housing register and digital lettings platform – Tees Valley Home Finder.  Tees Valley Home Finder was an online web portal allowing those seeking accommodation in the partner boroughs to register and ‘bid’ for housing.  The two Registered Provider Partnership members, Beyond Housing and North Star, advertised/let their properties through this route.  A further 12 Registered Providers were signatories to a Nomination Agreement.  These Registered Providers advertised/let a minimum of 50% of their vacant rented properties via the Tees Valley Home Finder platform.

There was high demand for social/affordable rented housing and availability did not match this demand.  This was the reason a review of the policy had been undertaken, with the aim of maximising the Council’s ability to best address local and prioritised housing need:

Housing Register

The number of applicants on the Housing register for Middlesbrough at the end of Quarter Four 2024/25 was 2878.

Average Number of Properties Advertised as Available for Letting

Whilst the weekly number of properties did fluctuate, between April 2024 to the end of Quarter Four 2024-25, the average number of advertised properties per week was 14 in Middlesbrough.

In addition to the issues of demand, the policy review took place to also ensure that the Council was in a good position to assist those in the greatest housing need and reflect on customer feedback.  It also gave the opportunity to address another driver for the review of the CAP, which was to ensure compliance regarding changes in national policy, including the Government’s commitment to ensure appropriate priority and support was given to Armed Forces Communities including veterans, those who were young care leavers, and those who had experienced domestic abuse. 

Representatives of the Tees Valley Lettings Partnership undertook a review and identified several potential changes which the consultation exercise subsequently sought views on.  Pages 17-30 of the CAP Consultation Report (Appendix 2) detailed the consultation questions asked, and sought views on 12 proposed changes (Appendix 1).

The consultation exercise for the proposed changes ran for six  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2