Consultations 2023 - 24

This consultation has now closed and we thank all those that took part for their feedback.

The comments will be collated and passed to senior management and committee for consideration.

Final outcomes of the consultation will appear here in due course.

The above policy reviewed and consulted on and there were no specific changes or suggestions. A 10% response rate from the consultation group which is a good level.

Comments included –

• Looks ok

• Wouldn’t change anything

• Must get involved in a group

All comments have been passed to Management for consideration.Thank you to all who took time to provide feedback

A consultation on our new Domestic Abuse policy took place and a fantastic response rate of 22% was achieved.

The feedback was as follows:-

Q1 – Do you think this is a good policy for Fyne homes to introduce?

Yes 49 responders – 100%

Q2 – Do you think this will make a difference to tenants?

Yes 45 responders – 94%

No 3 responders – 6%

Skipped question 1 responder

Q3 – Is there anything you would change in the policy?

Yes 8 respondents 16%

No 41 respondents 84%

All comments have been passed to Management for consideration.

Thank you to all who took time to provide feedback

The feedback received reflected that there were no major changes made other than some minor rewording and a revision was made to ensure the correct legislation is referenced.

The policy was reviewed/adopted at the Management Committee Meeting on 4^th October and has been updated.

The Annual Report consultation took place in August

There being no negative feedback about the report, the existing format will remain.

Thank you to those tenants that took part in the consultation.

First Proposal – Offers to priority groups changing from two to one:

Currently, our policy and practice is for all housing applicants to receive up to two offers of housing, regardless of their circumstances and points award.

Our proposal is to change this to one offer only where the applicant has received the maximum award of 200 points. If the applicant declines this offer they would thereafter have their application reassessed to remove maximum priority entitlement.

The 200 points award gives these applicants priority over other applicants on the housing waiting list because we recognise, they have an urgent need to move.

Who are the priority groups which receive 200 points:

• Statutory homeless applicants

• Leaving care and throughcare applicants

• Those experiencing domestic abuse

• People with an urgent health or disability issue that would be helped by a move

• Management reasons - If you are a tenant of one of the partner landlords and they need you to move for exceptional and urgent circumstances

Why do you propose changing the amount of offers to those requiring an urgent move from two to one offer?

We already recognise a need for an urgent move by awarding maximum points, which prioritises those applicants over others on our waiting lists. By reducing the offers made to urgent moves we aim to reduce current levels of temporary accommodation required for homeless applicants; reduce the volume of statutory homeless cases waiting on permanent housing at any one time and reduce the length of time applicants are waiting to be rehoused where there is an urgent housing need.

When would this take effect and what if I am already on the housing waiting list with maximum points?

Any changes proposed and accepted would take effect from 1^st August 2023. At which point all those with 200 points recognising an urgent need to move, whether they had received one offer or not, would only receive one further offer.

• Example 1 – Applicant is an existing priority applicant prior to 1^st August and has received one offer of housing already. This applicant would still receive one further offer.

• Example 2 – Applicant is an existing priority applicant prior to 1^st August and has NOT been made any offers of housing. This applicant would receive one offer of housing.

• Example 3 – Applicant receives priority points after 1^st August. This applicant will receive one offer of housing.

Our policy has been developed to give priority to those in the greatest housing need and all

applications will be assessed and given priority in accordance with the policy. The system

that will be used by the partners to assess and prioritise applications is outlined in the policy and remains the same. Only the volume of offers would change.

Second Proposal – Flexibility with bedrooms size for pressure areas:

Currently we aim to make best use of our housing stock and the size of property an applicant is eligible for will depend on the number and make up of people on the housing application. The number and size of bedrooms an applicant is entitled to is set out within the policy.

The partners appreciate that applicants’ circumstances can vary and that some households may want or need a larger property. The types of circumstances under which we might consider offering an extra bedroom are included in the policy.

Our proposal is to add a category to this to include the same flexibility where there is a particular pressure identified in the housing market.

An example of this would be where the Partners have identified a high volume of priority applicants for one-bedroom properties in an area where there are limited one-bedroom properties available. In this case the partner may be able to offer a 2-bedroom property instead.

The proposed wording for the flexible allocations would sit in the Types and Size of Housing category of the current policy per the wording below:

“Where a Particular Pressure is identified in the Housing Market - if the HOMEArgyll partners identify a particular pressure in the housing market the policy will address this by creating flexibility in the allocations process to assist to alleviate the identified pressure. This will only apply if the identified pressure in the housing market affects households with the maximum 200-point award under the policy.”

Please submit your response via our survey link: