Issue - meetings

[Report of the Director of Housing and Growth. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and Planning.] Cabinet will be asked to agree minor amendments to the Allocations Policy which are required to ensure that the Council’s policies are fully compliant with the new Homelessness Reduction Act and support the delivery of aims set out in the new Homelessness Strategy.

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and Planning introduced the report, which outlined the updates required for the Housing Allocations Policy to be compliant with the new Homelessness Reduction Act, which comes into effect in April 2018.

RESOLVED

To approve the minor amendments to the Housing Allocations Policy 2015 set out in Appendix 1, to ensure that Reasonable Preference is extended to those who are at the Prevention and Relief stages of an application, as required by the Homelessness Reduction Act.

Reasons for decision

The recommendation in 3.1 is because minor changes to the Housing Allocations Policy are required to ensure that it is compliant with the Homelessness Reduction Act.

Alternative options considered

Not to make any amendments to the Housing Allocations Policy. It could be argued that the extension of the Reasonable Preference category under the Homelessness Reduction Act is implicit in the existing wording. However, the amendments proposed make it clear that the Council is fully compliant with the new Homelessness Reduction Act.