Kingston Council has amended how it allocates and lets social housing in the borough, despite less than 10% consultation response rate from those on the housing register. 

At a Place Meeting on 7 November, councillors unanimously voted to approve the revised Housing Allocation Scheme from the 2017 version. 

Launching its online consultation plan from 24 July to 17 September, the Council received 426 respondents, 332 of whom were housing applicants, 111 were council tenants and 129 were other residents of the borough. 

A stakeholder consultation report supplied to the meeting quoted there are 3,259 applicants on Kingston's housing register, and with 332 applicants responding, this approximates to just a 10% response rate. 

Council documents state: "A response rate between 10% and 20% is deemed an indicative sample with which to consider the results." 

However, as of July 2023, there were reportedly 4,170 applicants to the housing register. Making the consultation only 7% response rate. Kingston Council has been contacted to confirm. 

Despite this, officer Lorne Brooke at the meeting described the responses as part of an "extensive consultation". 

Breakdown of responses. (Photo: Kingston Council Documents)

Changing the goal posts

The wording in the Housing Allocation Scheme objectives have changed in the 2017 document from aiming to 'meet a housing need' to 'make the best use of available housing' in the revised 2024 document. 

A spokesperson from the council said: "As with other local authorities, Kingston Council has a housing register, which is the list of people who qualify for council housing and are waiting to be offered a property. The demand for social housing is greater than the supply and we expect the population of Kingston to increase by a further 30,000 in the next 20 years." 

Data from Office of National Statistics (ONS) recorded Kingston's population at around 168,100 in 2021. 

Discussing the new scheme at the Place Meeting

Speaking at the meeting, Housing Portfolio holder Cllr Emily Davey said the scheme "is not going to create any more properties in Kingston". 

She added: "As much as we want the housing crisis to be over, it is not. The purpose of this is to decide If where there is housing, how it should be allocated." 

Currently, only those who have lived in Kingston borough for at least five years can apply to be on the housing register. 

Residents on the housing register in the borough will have to re-register after 12 months, but it was stated this was to assess whether initial circumstances had changed since first application. 

Under the new scheme, 16–17-year-olds will be able to join the Housing Register where currently this is limited to those whom Children Services acts as a guarantor. 

Concerns were raised regarding allowing 16- and 17-year-olds on the housing register, as Conservative Cllr Ian George said it could increase the demands.  

Cllr Davey responded: "Joining the housing list doesn't mean you will get housing any time soon, I can assure you of that. They will be well into their twenties before they can get anything, I imagine."  

However, officer Matthew Essex said: "The banding system stays in place whether the 16 or 17-year-olds are on there or not...and that is used to decide who goes where and who ranks first." 

Table of responses and policy from the consultation. (Photo: Kingston Council)

The new scheme permits applications from someone who needs to move to the Borough to care for somebody who has lived in the Borough for five or more years, and where that care cannot be provided by someone already in the Borough. 

Speaking on behalf of a resident, Cllr George asked if it was legal for the council to use the "ring-fenced HRA [Housing Revenue Account] funding to subsidise the General Fund." 

HRA is intended to record expenditure and income on running a council's housing stock. It is not a separate fund but a ring-fenced account of certain transactions within the General Fund, which is the main income and expenditure of the council's daily service provision.  

In response, Cllr Davey said: "This will enable people to willingly want to care for their relatives.... It is not about saving costs, it is about valuing carers." 

She added: "There are a lot of carers out there who do a lot of unpaid work and they go completely unnoticed, unrecognised and it's about time we did something for them. What we can do is enable them to exercise their care duties by being able to move into the borough and looking after whether it be elderly parents, disabled people, and enable them to do the role they want to do." 

The council voted to disregard the five-year qualification rule for someone with a connection to the armed forces, stating it was rarely used. 

There is no statutory requirement to change housing allocation, however, it is 'best practice' to review the scheme every five years.