Thousands to be taken off council housing register
NNC is planning on cutting its housing register by taking more than 3,000 people off the list
North Northamptonshire Council has revealed that more than 3,000 people could be stricken off its housing register, after suggesting a series of changes to its allocation scheme that will focus on housing those with ‘priority need’.
The current system ranks households based on their needs between bands of A to E, as well as how long they have been waiting on the list.
All applicants in the lower two bands, including homeowners, those sharing a property with others, people seeking sheltered accommodation who already have a house, and those with a local connection to a village, will be completely removed. Though the council has said it will retain the right to look at ‘exceptional circumstances’, such as disability, for these categories.
At a meeting discussing the plans on Tuesday (September 2), Cllr Helen Howell said that for the 3,000 residents who will no longer be eligible for council housing, it will “come as a big blow to them”.
She added: “We need to make sure that the consultation actually serves a purpose for us in finding out information, but also assisting those residents who are now going to be basically booted off and have no prospect of gaining a council property.”
However, NNC’s report insists that the impact on these households is expected to be ‘minimal’, as their prospects of being housed via the housing register are already “unrealistic and/or non-existent”.
Members were informed that the council receives an average of over 500 new applications per month and that it needs to move forward focusing solely on those with a ‘priority need’, due to the massive demand for social and affordable housing.
From April 2022 to April 2025 the housing register increased from 2,937 applicants to 6,727. In comparison, just 1,528 social homes were let in 2024/25.
Samantha Dickson, the Housing Options Manager at NNC, said: “This scheme has been in place since day one, so after four years it is a good time to look at how it’s been administered and what the change in our local needs are.
“For those applicants who are least likely to be housed, we want to be able to concentrate and focus on providing those applicants with support on how to explore alternative housing options.
“We want to make sure that those applicants are exploring options that are more realistic to them and actually have a chance of leading to something, rather than just sitting on a register expecting a nomination that’s never going to come.”
The updated scheme will also make young people leaving care, adults in social care looking to move into independent living, and domestic abuse victims with a connection to North Northamptonshire a higher priority for social housing.
Assistant Director for strategic housing, Evonne Coleman-Thomas, told members: “The important thing to get across is that this is not a review to take away from people. This is a review to enhance our ability to support those residents who have the greatest housing need.
“It’s also important to manage people’s expectations. We’re not in the place where we were probably 50, 60 years ago, when you could just walk up to the council and go ‘I’ll have that house please’.
“We know that all of these conversations are difficult, but I fundamentally do believe that the work that colleagues have done around the legislation and listening to what our residents tell us, that this is really a positive move for us.”
The report explained that many of the lower-priority applicants maintain an expectation and aspiration that they will be housed through the register, which can lead to them being disappointed about the amount of time they are waiting and to increased complaints. It also reported that bands D and E consume a high volume of officer resources and time in respect of processing and managing.
NNC has suggested that its new prioritisation scheme would provide more clarity and transparency to residents, whilst also being able to direct those who do not meet the criteria to alternative housing solutions such as mutual exchange, low-cost home ownership and the private rented sector.
Officers also confirmed that, if the new policy is approved, the department will be able to reinvest its time and resources in supporting people with the highest need.
The report will go before NNC’s Executive panel in October for consideration, before a six-week consultation period on the proposed changes. According to the authority, all applicants on the housing register will be emailed to notify them of the consultation.