Section: Allocations & Transfers

Report Identifies Unfair Exclusion from Housing

Shelter released a new report that illustrates how local people in Tyne & Wear are being unfairly prevented from accessing council or housing association homes.

The report - Exclusions in Tyne & Wear - reveals that local councils and housing associations are operating unfair exclusion policies, banning people from the housing list for old or minor faults on their housing record.

The report found that minor rent arrears was often used as grounds for exclusion, with almost 40% of the households surveyed excluded for arrears of less than £500. Some of these arrears dated back to the 1980s. This keeps people homeless in temporary accommodation, trapped in bad housing, or forces them into expensive and insecure private rented homes.

The evidence in Shelter's report comes four years after a change in legislation, designed to prevent unfair exclusions. The Homelessness Act 2002 contained measures to prevent local authorities from operating blanket exclusions from the housing waiting list. Instead, each case has to be considered on its merits. Applicants can now only be excluded if they are shown to be unsuitable tenants, for example if they have high rent arrears or have committed anti-social behaviour. The behaviour in question must be severe enough that, if the applicant was already a tenant of the authority, it would be likely to result in a court ordering an outright Possession Order against the tenant.

The Housing Corporation has also made clear to housing associations that they should not be operating blanket exclusion policies.

Shelter is calling on councils and housing associations to urgently review their practices and stop excluding tenants for minor past faults. It argues that only current difficulties should be taken in account, and any steps to improve these should be recognised.

Bob Finch, Shelter's North East Area Manager, said: "A whole community of people in Tyne and Wear - many of whom are in desperate housing need - are being unfairly denied access to social housing.

"Trapped in poor quality housing or homeless in temporary accommodation, their health, education and future chances are put in jeopardy.

"Councils and housing associations must stop excluding people from the housing list for outdated and irrelevant faults."

Case Law Update

The claimant had been statutorily homeless for a number of years, during which time he had not even reached the minimum threshold for points likely to result in a successful bid. His local authority, Barnet LBC, had adopted a points-driven choice based letting scheme, whereby properties were advertised and then let to the bidder with the highest points.

In Judicial Review proceedings, the judge rejected a number of grounds of challenge to the Council's scheme. However, the judge granted a declaration that the scheme was unlawful, in so far as it automatically accorded all transfer applicants 100 additional points. This included some applicants not entitled to a reasonable preference under the Housing Act 1996 s167 (2). A consequence of this was the artificial raising of the points threshold to the detriment of those, such as the claimant, entitled to a preference.

R(Lin) v Barnet LBC [2006], EWHC 1041 (Admin)

Section: Allocations & Transfers

Report Identifies Unfair Exclusion from Housing

Case Law Update

Housing Monthly Diary

Issue: July 2006 Reporting on May-June 2006

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