Choice-Based Lettings (CBL) are different from the traditional way of allocating housing via the waiting list. Under the old scheme an applicant would wait for a house to become available that was deemed suitable by their local housing authority. When this occurred they would be offered the chance to take it. If they refused they would have to wait often years for another house to become available.
DCLG wants to ensure that social housing tenants have more choice and control over where they live. Choice-Based Letting can offer this. CBL allows applicants for social housing (and tenants who want to transfer) to apply for vacancies which are advertised widely in the neighbourhood. This is done through local newspapers, newsletters, or on a website, much in the same way as an estate agent might advertise their properties.
Applicants are given the opportunity to apply (bid) for vacancies which are suitable for their needs. Priority is given to those with urgent needs, but where possible properties are allocated on the basis of who has been waiting the longest. Applicants can see the full range of available properties and can apply for any home to which they are matched (e.g. a single person would not be eligible for a 3-bedroom house).
The Government has set a target for the introduction of Choice-Based Lettings (CBL) by local authorities, that by 2010 all local authorities will have adopted a choice-based lettings system.
The Government also wants to see CBL schemes developing on a regional and/or sub-regional basis. Such schemes, involving a partnership of local authorities and registered social landlords – and working together with private landlords wherever possible – are the best way to achieve the greatest choice and flexibility in meeting home-seeker’s housing needs. To support sub-regional and regional scheme The Department for Communities and Local Government has set up a Regional Challenge Fund, where local authorities can bid for funding to help develop regional and sub-regional CBL schemes.
