Consultation on Reading Housing Allocations Scheme

Reading Borough Council this week launches the second phase of its ‘Let’s Talk Housing’ consultation, this time looking at ways in which people think the Council’s housing allocations scheme can be improved in the future.

Earlier this year the Council launched Let’s Talk Housing, a three-part consultation aimed at getting residents to think about the key housing-related issues which affect Reading as a town and – importantly – working with the Council to help identify ways to further improve the way people are housed.

While the first stage looked at the private rented sector in Reading, this second phase – beginning on Wednesday September 4th – focuses on Reading Borough Council’s housing allocations scheme. The allocations scheme is how the Council sets out things like who can apply to be on the local authority’s housing register, how the Council goes about deciding on priorities for re-housing and the guidelines for allocating social housing.

Recent legislative changes brought about by the Government’s Localism Act mean local Councils have more flexibility about how they choose to administer their housing register, including who can apply for a Council home. That means local Councils can have different allocation schemes depending on what local priorities are.

Reading Borough Council has therefore set out a series of discussion topics around who can apply to Readings housing register, including views on people who apply from outside of the borough.

More detail on the consultation, and the feedback questionnaire, can be found from Sep 4 at http://www.reading.gov.uk/letstalkhousing