This is one in a series of articles that explain aspects of the homelessness system in Wales, ahead of the expected publication of a Welsh Government Homelessness Bill during 2025.
The Welsh Government doesn’t publish data on how many people are on social housing waiting lists. But the ‘shock value’ of these numbers sometimes leads journalists to collate their own, using Freedom of Information requests.
Most recently, BBC Wales found 139,000 people on a waiting list for a social home in October 2023 – equivalent to one in every 22 people in Wales.
The Local Government and Housing Committee has examined the reasons for the huge mismatch between demand for, and the supply of, social housing. As part of its inquiry, Members heard people’s experiences of applying for a social home.
“I suffer anyway with my mental health,” said one participant. “But this was the biggest impact on my mental health I’ve ever experienced. It’s the lack of communication with the council, the lack of transparency… We just kept being told you’re on the list, you’re on the list. Then there are lists within lists, and you’re at the top of this list. But then there’s another list and it is frustrating.”
The Welsh Government has promised to reform the law on social housing allocations as part of the Ending Homelessness Bill, expected to be introduced during 2025.
Ahead of the Bill’s publication, this article explains the current law and practice on accessing social housing. It looks at what the Bill might address, and considers stakeholders’ reactions so far.
The basics
The law on allocating social housing in Wales is set out in Part 6 of the Housing Act 1996 (HA1996). The Welsh Government’s Code of Practice (chapters 1-4) also sets out the law and practice.
All local authorities, including the 11 that no longer have their own housing stock, are required to have an allocations scheme setting out how they intend to allocate housing.
Local authorities’ schemes must give ‘reasonable preference’ to five categories of applicant:
- People who are homeless within the meaning of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 (HWA2014);
- People who are owed a homelessness duty under Sections 66, 73 or 75 of HWA2014;
- People occupying insanitary or overcrowded housing or otherwise living in unsatisfactory housing conditions;
- People who need to move on medical or welfare grounds; and
- People who need to move to a particular locality where failure to do so would cause hardship to themselves or others.
They must not normally allocate housing to people who are not ‘eligible’. This means one of two things:
- People from abroad who are subject to immigration control; and
- People who are guilty of ‘unacceptable behaviour’, meaning anti-social behaviour or serious rent arrears.
Local variations
As long as local authorities can show that, overall, their policy gives ‘reasonable preference’ to applicants in the five categories listed above, they are free to include other priorities as long as they don’t dominate the scheme.
There is a lot of variation across Wales. Many local authorities use a banding system to prioritise applicants, although there is no standard approach and systems vary. Some allocate points to rank applicants according to level of need. Most share a common housing register with local housing providers to give applicants a single point of access, but some don’t (such as Wrexham, Neath Port Talbot and Swansea).
Some give greater priority than others to factors such as local connection. They may decide to include a local lettings policy, which allows local authorities to use specific accommodation for people of a particular description, even if they don’t fit into a reasonable preference category. This allows for some housing to be used as sheltered or accessible accommodation.
In practice, the Wales-wide picture is complex. The Welsh Government’s Ending Homelessness White Paper noted that homeless households are not always placed in the highest priority band, despite being entitled to reasonable preference, because of the weight that may be given to other factors.
What about housing associations?
Housing associations are less restricted in their allocations schemes. The key duty that applies to them is Section 170 of the HA1996, which requires them to cooperate at the request of the local authority, ‘to such an extent as is reasonable’, in offering an allocation to people with priority under the local authority’s scheme. This need for joint working is further supported by a ‘duty to cooperate’ under Section 95 of the HWA2014.
In practice, most housing associations have agreements with local authorities to accept ‘nominations’ of applicants for vacant properties. Recent research has found that most housing associations ‘seem to be’ operating a high level of nominations, with some operating 100% nominations.
However, even when on paper a social landlord commits to 100% nominations from the local authority, in practice the proportion will often be less. Housing associations may refuse individual nominations based on factors they consider relevant such as an applicant’s previous history, or the availability of support services.
The Welsh Government has collated quarterly data from housing associations on various performance measures, one of which is lettings to alleviate homelessness. The most recent report, for January to March 2024, found that an average of 34.8% of housing associations’ lettings were categorised as to alleviate homelessness, with proportions for individual housing associations varying from 0% to 61%. While these percentages don’t represent all nominations, just homelessness-related ones, they nevertheless show how much variation there is.
What might change?
The upcoming Bill is widely expected to include proposals aimed at increasing the proportion of social housing allocations to homeless households.
The Welsh Government’s White Paper, published in October 2023, sought views on a number of proposals for new legislation, including:
- To clarify in law that a housing association cannot unreasonably refuse a referral from a local authority;
- Clarifying the test for ineligibility due to unacceptable behaviour;
- Giving local authorities the power to remove people with no housing need from the waiting list;
- Assigning additional preference (over and above reasonable preference) to applicants who are homeless;
- Assigning additional preference to homeless care leavers;
- Requiring the use of Common Housing Registers and Common Allocations policies across all local authorities;
- Introducing a ‘deliberate manipulation’ test to remove preference for social housing from applicants found to have deliberately manipulated the homelessness system in order to gain advantage when applying for social housing.
Stakeholders responding to this White Paper varied in their level of support for these proposals. For example, nearly all local authorities and third sector organisations agreed with the proposal to clarify that a housing association may not unreasonably refuse a referral, while most housing associations opposed it.
With stakeholders disagreeing over whether the proposals will support or undermine collaboration between landlords and local authorities, it remains to be seen whether any proposals will have changed by the time the Bill is laid.
Getting advice on accessing social housing
The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales deals with complaints about social housing allocations.
Shelter Cymru provides free specialist housing advice.
Citizens Advice Cymru provides free advice and support on a range of problems, including housing.
Article by Jennie Bibbings, Senedd Research, Welsh Parliament
