Number of families on Enfield Council's housing waiting list more than doubles in four years

The civic centre is proposing a “light touch review” of its social housing allocation scheme following the significant rise in demand, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Council housing in Carterhatch Lane, Enfield

Enfield Council has proposed a “light touch review” of its social housing allocation scheme after the number of families on the waiting list for a home more than doubled in just four years.

While in 2020 the council had 3,500 households on its housing needs register, this number now stands at 7,500.

Annually, around 450 council properties become available to let, meaning families may have to wait “several years” before having “sufficient priority” to be allocated a property.

In light of this “increased pressure” the council has decided to review its housing allocation scheme this year, to determine which residents will be prioritised in future.

Neil Wightman, director of resident housing services at the council, led a discussion on the review yesterday (Monday 22nd) during a housing scrutiny panel meeting at Enfield Civic Centre.

He said the council hadn’t “started writing” the new scheme and it was not proposing a “full redesign” but was sticking with some key elements.

Although its current points scheme is “more complicated” than other common housing management options, such as banding schemes, the council recommends retaining it because it offers “flexibility”.

Neil explained that moving to a band scheme would be a “burden” administratively and an added expense.

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The council’s current points scheme uses the Choice Based Letting (CBL) scheme to allocate housing, which Neil said the council was recommending to continue with due to the “cost of changing systems”.

Neil expanded on the advantages of the points scheme, despite its issues, and emphasised that it was not a “waiting list” but a “needs register”.

He said the scheme allocated points according to a resident’s “different needs and priorities” and someone could have been on the housing register for “quite a long time” but someone with “higher needs” got more points and was more prioritised.

Neil said band schemes tended to be “simpler to understand” with residents being placed in four or five bands depending on circumstances, but it was “difficult to move between bands” whereas points could be “cumulative”.

Committee member Nicki Adeleke asked Neil to elaborate on potentially including neurodivergent people on the council’s exemption list, meeting the criteria for social housing. She said that for a “long time” neurodivergent and mental health issues were not viewed “on a par” with physical health issues.

Neil responded: “It’s about that multiple complex need, where maybe the resident’s physical health as well as neurodiversity or mental health is an issue, so it’s trying to get a scheme that can recognise that and give additional priority.”

He added that the council’s scheme at the moment doen’t properly recognise children’s as well as adults’ circumstances, adding it was “hard” to weave in this detail but it was “definitely” something the council was trying to achieve with its review.

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