Having a job could soon make it easier to get social housing.
That is Central Beds Council’s plan in its new draft Housing Allocations Scheme.
The suggestion is that applicants in employment will be shortlisted above those who are unemployed when they bid for a property.
In a foreword to the scheme Councillor Carole Hegley, executive member responsible for social care, health and housing, wrote: “We believe that applicants who seek and obtain work should have increased housing prospects for social housing as a result.
“This will encourage applicants who are not working to seek employment as a way of gaining additional priority for housing.”
People in formal volunteering roles and apprentices will also be given priority.
There will be exemptions for people who cannot work due to a disability and for properties designated for older people, sheltered housing and extra care schemes.
The draft scheme states: “The key is in assisting housing applicants to find work and making sure our services focus on this.
“With the benefits cap applicants who don’t work are likely to suffer hardship and so the employment priority within the proposed allocations scheme exists to incentivise work.”
There is a consultation about the proposals at www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/consultations
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