§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if it is Government policy that the Housing Act 1996 should be amended so that local authorities must provide a written explanation of the reasons for(a) excluding and (b) suspending an individual from the Housing Register; [118309]
(2) the Housing Act 1996 should be amended to prevent the exclusion of people in housing need, except in exceptional circumstances. [118308]
§ Mr. MullinThe Housing Act 1996 gives local authorities considerable discretion to decide what classes of person qualify, or not, to appear on the housing register. In making any decision to reject a person's application to be put on its housing register, the authority must notify the applicant in writing.
On 4 April 2000, the Government published their plans for a comprehensive review of housing policy in England in the Housing Green Paper "Quality and Choice: A Decent Home for All". This sets out the Government's proposals for providing choice in social housing. The Government do not believe that anyone should be permanently excluded from social housing and therefore propose to remove the power local authorities have to impose 'blanket' exclusions. Instead the Government propose to allow authorities temporarily to reduce the priority or suspend the applications of households on an individual basis where this is justified. In applying any such sanction, authorities would be required to explain the reason in writing and to give applicants a clear indication of any action necessary to have the restriction removed. They would have a right of appeal in cases of dispute.
Any decisions to suspend an application would need to consider carefully the circumstances of the household in order to safeguard vulnerable people. Suspensions would be used in exceptional circumstances where other means of managing a problem had been exhausted.