NewmanFrancis has been appointed to run early community consultation and engagement on the Housing Allocations Scheme for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Through February and March we ran six Zoom meetings, an online survey and conducted many surveys over the phone. We have also conducted a number of case studies. The survey phase is now complete, and we are working with a group of local residents to craft the report about the survey and wider engagement. This will be sent to the Council at the end of April and posted onto this web page.
The number of people in Kensington and Chelsea who need to be housed or rehoused by the Council is much larger than the number of properties available. Due to the shortage of social housing in Kensington and Chelsea, unless someone has a significant need to be rehoused; it is almost certain that they will never be offered social housing.
Every Council should make sure they offer properties to the people most in need and by law they have to prioritise certain categories of people, including homeless households, households living in bad or overcrowded housing conditions and households who need to move on medical or welfare grounds. Councils can also prioritise other people for rehousing, based on local `additional’ priorities.
The current Allocations Scheme in Kensington and Chelsea was agreed in 2017 and needs to be revised. The Council wants to consult tenants and residents on this before starting to make any changes. RBKC want to develop the fairest Housing Allocations Scheme they can within the resources they have available.
Our report is divided into a number of sections, largely reviewing the results from different consultative methods; online meetings, surveys, and case studies. Quotes from meetings and interviews, and surveys are in blue text boxes.
A statement from the Community Advisory Group acts as the foreword to the report.
We would like to thank everyone who shared their experiences and knowledge with us, all those who spoke to us and wrote to us and made this engagement meaningful. We would particularly like to thank the members of the Community Advisory Group.
To read or download a copy of the report press on the link below.
Please click here to view the report
The Council’s response to the report can be found here
Below is some information to help you understand some of the issues surrounding the Housing Allocations Scheme.
Numbers of households waiting for housing:
Over three thousand households are on the Council’s Housing Register (the waiting list). On the 18th November 2020 a total of 3,291 households were on the Housing Register of which 2,127 households were housed in temporary accommodation after becoming homeless and of these the Council has accepted a duty to rehouse 2,114 households.
There is a shortage of social housing in Kensington and Chelsea. The graph below demonstrates the number of social housing homes available each year in relation to the number of people who want them and have registered with the Council for one.
There are fewer than 500 homes available each year and recently more than 3000 households have been on the register wanting these homes.
For families requiring more than two bedrooms the picture is more difficult and the wait will be far longer as so few properties with 3 or more bedrooms become available each year. The graph below shows the number of properties available each year by bed size.
To increase this supply, the Council has plans to build an additional 600 homes, starting in 2022 of which at least 300 will be for social housing.
The current Housing Allocation Scheme has four wide bands reached through a points system. The bands are:
Points are gained by people registering with the Council for housing via the following criteria:
There are also some qualifying criteria’s, such as having a connection to the area without which you can’t join the register. Full details of these are in the Allocation Scheme https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/housing/finding-your-home/housing-allocation-scheme-2017
For more information, you can get in touch by calling us on 0800 644 6040 (Freephone), or email us at RBKC@newmanfrancis.org
Q: How do I find the current allocations scheme from 2017?
Click here to view the allocations scheme from 2017
Q: What is the policy behind where residents are placed in temporary accommodation?
Click here to find out more
Q: What is a Vox Pop and how do I do one?
A Vox Pop is a short video (maximum 2 minutes) of you or your friends or relations telling us what changes you would like to see – but if you or your friends don’t want to speak you can do one via placards. For information about vox pops see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uygXJP7trvQ and for an example with placards see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTF70p0rDyU
Q: What is the Housing Moves Scheme?
Housing Moves is the Mayor of London’s lettings scheme that enables social housing tenants of London’s councils and housing associations to move from one part of the capital to another. For more information see.
https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/housing-and-land/council-and-social-housing/housing-moves
Q: Can I see the presentation you gave at the Zoom meetings?