Choice Based Lettings Bands
Why introduce a Bands system?
- Points are fiddly and complicated - our consultation showed that many applicants did not really understand how the points system worked.
- Bands are clear and easy to understand.
- With points it was difficult to decide where you were in the queue for housing, people could leapfrog you on the list on a daily basis.
- Applicants are ordered by waiting time within the bands. This means that someone else in the same band as you cannot leapfrog you. Our consultation showed that applicants thought it was fairer that waiting time counts.
What are the bands?
| Band A: Exceptional housing need |
| Who qualifies? |
|
Applicants with exceptional circumstances (ECP award) or subject to statutory overcrowding or disrepair notices. Social tenants with decant or successor status or giving up two or more bedrooms.
|
| Band B: Urgent priority |
| Who qualifies? |
| Applicants with urgent housing priority (ECP award or Health and Housing Assessment (HAHA) award), commitment to rehouse, "move on" schemes, overcrowded (short of 2 or more bedrooms), social tenants under-occupying by 1 room, compound needs |
| Band C: High priority |
| Who qualifies? |
| Statutory homeless in temporary accommodation, applicants with high priority (ECP award), applicants who lack essential facilities, compound needs |
| Band D: Significant Housing Need |
| Who qualifies? |
| Applicants who are homeless or no fixed abode, or with significant priority (ECP or HAHA award), overcrowded (1 bedroom short), lacking a kitchen or living room, unsatisfactory housing, gender overcrowding |
| Band E: Identified Housing Need |
| Who qualifies? |
| Private sector tenants with possession orders against them, applicants with identified housing need (ECP or HAHA award), households with children at height |
| Bands F: No priority |
| Who qualifies? |
| Applicants who do not fall into the above bands or who have been given a 'nil priority' award including those with sufficient resources to secure alternative accommodation |
Anything else I should know?
Some applicants can have compound needs. This is where an applicant meets more than one of the categories in a band. To show that they have a greater need than someone who only meets one category they may be able to jump up by one band.
Applicants in bands B, E and F cannot make this jump.
Other applicants may have complex needs that can't easily be reflected by the bands. In these cases a band can be awarded by the Exceptional Circumstances Panel (ECP) or the Health and Housing Assessment Panel (HAHA panel). This only happens for very special cases and we will need to see evidence.
Page last reviewed 25 Apr 2008
Copyright © Oxford City Council 2008
Oxford City Council
