PEOPLE in the Forest Heath district are being given more choice when they apply for social housing.

Under the new choice-based lettings scheme being introduced next week, people on the housing register will be able to bid for the property they want to live in.

The new scheme, which is called Home-Link, is set to be launched on 22 February and will change the way council and housing association homes are let. The introduction of the scheme follows consultation across the sub-region throughout 2007.

All available homes in Cambridge, Fenland, East Cambridgeshire, Forest Heath, Huntingdonshire, South Cambridgeshire and St Edmundsbury districts will be advertised on a dedicated website (www.home-link.org.uk). Properties in Fenland will be advertised from November 2008.

They will also be advertised in a fortnightly Home-Link magazine which is available at a range of access points across the sub-region. Details will also be advertised at council and housing association offices where people would normally apply for a property.

Applicants on the housing register for an area will able to place an expression of interest, known as a bid, for up to three available homes in each fortnightly advertising cycle.

Cllr Marion Fairman-Smith, Member Champion for Health at Forest Heath District Council, said: “I welcome this new scheme. It will be a more simple and straightforward way of letting the houses available. People will be clearer about the band they are in and therefore will be able to easily assess their chance of getting a property.

“It will no longer simply be a method of get what you are given.

Home Link will give housing applicants more choice and say in where they live and people will be able to take the initiative and bid with confidence knowing the allocation is open and transparent.”

Some ten per cent of available properties in each district will be pooled to allow people to bid for homes outside of the district they originally applied to. For example, an applicant living in Cambridge will be able to bid for ten per cent of available properties in the other six districts.

They will be able to bid for the available homes by:

• visiting the Home-Link website (www.home-link.org.uk)
• low cost telephone number (tel: 0870 727 0481)
• text message (text 07781 472726)
• returning a postal coupon
• calling in to a local council or housing association office.

The applicant in the highest assessed housing need will then be made the offer of the property. If they refuse the home, the second person on the list will be made the offer. People will not lose any priority if they refuse an offer of accommodation.

Everyone on the housing register has been sent full details of the scheme together with details of their housing needs band (which is replacing the traditional points based system). This will give them a better understanding of where they are in terms of priority for housing. They will receive details about their current application for a home as well as a straightforward Home-Link user guide, which explains how the scheme will operate. Full details will also be posted on the Home-Link website.

Home-Link will not increase the total number of homes available across the sub-region but it will give people more choice and provide a more open and accountable system.

Applicants will have more say in where they are housed and more information about their housing options. It will also provide the opportunity to move around the sub-region.

The first advertising cycle will be from 9am on Friday 22 February until 12noon on Wednesday 27 February. Properties will be advertised each fortnight from then onwards.