NHF calls for radical overhaul of social housing allocation

The National Housing Federation (NHF) has called for a radical overhaul of social housing allocation to make it “fairer and more transparent”.

The call comes as new findings reveal that six out of 10 people on lower incomes believe they have little or no chance of getting a social home - with the same number not understanding how they are allocated.

Commissioned by the NHF, the poll also showed that 62 per cent of people with a household income of £30,000 or less, thought workers had less chance of being allocated an affordable home than their parents did in previous decades.

The NHF warned that while the current system gives high priority to the most vulnerable it also ends up creating pockets of high poverty and disadvantage.

It said system needs to be changed so that it is easier for working people to benefit from social housing.

NHF chief executive David Orr said:

“The chronic shortage of social homes in this country has created an allocations system whereby only the most desperate and vulnerable have a realistic chance of getting a home.

“This creates neighbourhoods where the most vulnerable and marginalised are housed together, resulting in areas of high economic inactivity, poverty and disadvantage.”