Further to Minute 16 of the meeting held on 21 March 2021, the Executive Director of Economic Growth and Neighbourhood Services submitted a report which detailed Reading Borough Council’s requirement to review its Allocations Scheme, including national and local drivers for change, the outcome of a consultation on the proposed changes, the subsequent recommended amendments made to the scheme and the timetable for their proposed implementation.  The report explained that there had been 684 responses to the eight-week consultation exercise, which had been used to inform the proposed changes to the Scheme.  The following documents were attached to the report:

• Appendix 1   Summary of consultation findings;
• Appendix 2   Allocations Scheme;
• Appendix 3   Equality Impact assessment.

The report set out the main proposed changes to the Scheme as follows:

·      Reading Borough Council tenants who wished to move would be awarded a level of priority even where their circumstances did not attract a Reasonable Preference priority, as outlined in the draft Allocations Scheme.

·       An exception would be provided to the three-year residency criteria that was required to join the Housing Register, which would allow key workers supporting those that were providing essential services in Reading to have access to key worker accommodation in the town. It was proposed to ensure greater priority for this group through the creation of a quota queue, letting a number of properties each year.

• Applicants who had previously been evicted due to serious, threatening or violent behaviours which had not been addressed would not qualify for the Reading Borough Council housing register for a minimum period of five years and this period might be increased for up to 10 years on reasonable consideration of all the relevant facts.
• The number of priority bands to be reduced from six to five, made up of priority bands 1-4 and a further band where applications did not attract any priority for housing, reflecting the current scheme.

·       The creation of a separate Adapted Housing Register for those applicants that required property adaptations.

The report proposed a phased implementation of the new scheme to allow for the changes to be implemented in the most effective way.  Throughout 2022 the Housing Service would be implementing a new Housing IT system and it was proposed that different elements of the scheme be introduced in line with the implementation milestones.

Resolved:

(1)      That the findings from the Allocations Scheme Consultation be noted;

(2)      That the proposed changes to the Council’s Housing Allocations Scheme as informed by the consultation be approved and the revised Allocation Scheme including the relevant changes be adopted;

(3)     Thatthe influencing factors relating to implementation be noted and the timetable for delivery of the new scheme be agreed.