Allocations and Lettings – Taking Customer Choice Forward in England?

Authors: Brown, Tim1; Yates, Nicola2

Source: European Journal of Housing Policy, Volume 5, Number 3, Number 3/December 2005 , pp. 343-357(15)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

A step change has taken place in allocations policy in England with the recent adoption of choice-based letting (CBL). This centres on a customer-oriented approach with households responding to adverts. It requires the customer to indicate preferences based on social housing market information as opposed to landlords dictating an offer of a vacant property based on a measure of need. Innovative schemes by social housing organizations in the late 1990s provided the foundation for subsequent endorsement by the government. There have been many reasons for its adoption, including a greater customer orientation, tackling low demand, building sustainable neighbourhoods and improving organizational efficiency. Initial evaluation suggests positive benefits from the customer perspective of the lettings process (e.g. transparency), compared with traditional bureaucratic rationing systems. Nevertheless, there have been concerns on, for example, the impact on vulnerable groups and the extent to which CBL contributes to sustainable communities. More fundamentally, CBL operates within the constraints of national policy and local housing markets. It radically alters the allocations process but by itself it cannot rebalance high and low demand housing markets.

Keywords: Social housing; allocations; choice-based lettings

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/14616710500342242

Affiliations: 1: Centre for Comparative Housing Research, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK 2: North Shropshire District Council, Wem, UK

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