Social Rented Housing: Eligibility
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of rules on local connection for housing allocations.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook
On the 24 September the Prime Minister announced an ambition to improve access to social housing for veterans, survivors of domestic abuse and young care leavers.
Statutory guidance recommends that local authorities exempt victims of domestic abuse and care leavers from local connection and residency tests, and we know that most local authorities already do this. We are clear that a victim of domestic abuse, a care leaver or a veteran should not be disqualified from social housing on the grounds of having no local connection.
The Department laid regulations on 27 November which will require local authorities to exempt all veterans from local connection requirements for social housing allocations.
We will bring forward similar regulations covering survivors of domestic abuse and care leavers when parliamentary time allows.
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