Allocations housing

The request was successful.

Dear Greenwich Borough Council,

1. Currently how many RBG & RSL properties are currently under occupied and are not on the housing register?

2. What is the reason behind RBG not working with RSLs to tackle the issue of under occupancy?

3. When shortlisting how do allocations decide between a band A applicant and a band B1 applicant?

4. Could you explain how the shortlisting process works from the time applicants place a bid to the time an offer is made?

5. When checking the registration date of successful applicants within the last year, I noticed specifically with band B1 3 beds, 3 bed parlour’s and 4 beds that some applicants dates range from 2015-2018 whereas others go as far back as 2004. Please provide an explanation for this big gap?

6. When was the last time the housing register was audited?

7. Please provided a breakdown by ethnicity code how many households have been offered a 3/4/5 bed property in the following areas within the last two years : Abbey Wood, Blackheath, Charlton, Greenwich, Eltham, Kidbrooke, Mottingham, Plumstead, Shooters Hill, Thamesmead & Woolwich.

Yours faithfully,

Jacqueline Sinclair

foi, Greenwich Borough Council

Dear Ms Sinclair

 

Freedom of Information request:  FOI-70282

 

Thank you for your request dated 11 November 2022.

 

Your request will be answered by 12 December 2022. 

 

If you have any queries about this request, please contact me, quoting the
reference number above.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

David White

Head of Information, Safety and Community Services

Directorate of Communities, Environment and Central

Royal Borough of Greenwich

 

*   3^rd Floor, The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London, SE18
6HQ

8 [1]www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk

 

ü Please consider the environment before printing this email

 

 

show quoted sections

foi, Greenwich Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Sinclair

 

Freedom of Information request:  FOI-70282

 

Thank you for your request dated 14 November 2022.

 

Our response is as follows:

 

 

1. Currently how many RBG & RSL properties are currently under occupied
and are not on the housing register?

 

This is not something that we can report on, we do not know the current
household information of all properties if they are not on the Housing
Register. 

 

 

2. What is the reason behind RBG not working with RSLs to tackle the issue
of under occupancy?

 

The current Policy only provides incentives and rehousing priority to RBG
tenants who are under occupying however, the Allocations Policy is under
Review and we are looking to work closely with RSLs to tackle under
occupancy.

 

 

3. When shortlisting how do allocations decide between a band A applicant
and a band B1 applicant?

 

Please refer to the Allocations Policy, paragraph 4.4 on Bands and
Priorities

 

The Housing list is divided into four Bands, A, B1, B2 (the priority
bands) and C reflecting whether an applicant has reasonable preference or
a local priority for housing and if so, how much.

 

Band A is for applicants with reasonable preference because of
unsatisfactory housing conditions, who the Council needs to house.
Applicants in this band are shortlisted before all other bands and are
considered in date order from when the priority was awarded.

 

Bands B1 and B2 are for applicants with reasonable preference who the
Council must prioritise for housing. Applicants in these bands are housed
in date order from when the priority was awarded. Band B1 applicants will
be shortlisted before Band B2.

 

Band C is for all applicants on the housing register. Applicants in Band C
do not attract any priority and will be housed in date order from the date
their application was registered.

All applicants will be placed in Band C on registration and depending on
the outcome of any assessment may also be placed within one of the other
Bands

 

Shortlisting is therefore completed in the above order.

 

 

4. Could you explain how the shortlisting process works from the time
applicants place a bid to the time an offer is made?

 

Following a bid on the Council’s Choice Based Lettings Scheme, the
applicant with the earliest priority date get shortlisted for an offer. 

 

 

5. When checking the registration date of successful applicants within the
last year, I noticed specifically with band B1 3 beds, 3 bed parlour’s and
4 beds that some applicants dates range from 2015-2018 whereas others go
as far back as 2004. Please provide an explanation for this big gap?

 

The team are currently making offers to households on Band B1 on 3 and 4
bedroom accommodation from dates 2015 - 2018 as the wait time for such
properties are longer due to limited housing stock.  However, we would
like to know more regarding the offer dating back to 2004 to be able to
provide a response.

 

 

6. When was the last time the housing register was audited?

 

The housing register is regularly audited as part of the National Fraud
Initiatives and the last time was in May 2022.

 

 

7. Please provided a breakdown by ethnicity code how many households have
been offered a 3/4/5 bed property in the following areas within the last
two years:  Abbey Wood, Blackheath, Charlton, Greenwich, Eltham,
Kidbrooke, Mottingham, Plumstead, Shooters Hill, Thamesmead and Woolwich.

 

Please refer to attached document.

 

The spreadsheet shows the number of housing applications rather than the
properties. This is based on offers made during the period 19^th November
2020 to 18^th November 2022 and includes all offers irrelevant of the
outcome.

 

The spreadsheet shows housing applications for 3/4/5 bed properties of any
type and it includes Royal Greenwich owned and Registered Social Landlord
properties.

 

 

If you have any queries about this correspondence, please contact me,
quoting the reference number above.

 

If you are not satisfied with our response to your request, you can ask
for an Internal Review.  Internal review requests must be submitted within
two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original
request.  If you wish to do this, please contact us in writing, setting
out why you are dissatisfied.

 

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the Internal Review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. 
Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the
Internal Review procedure provided by the Council. You can contact the ICO
by emailing [1][email address], or by post at Customer Contact,
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
SK9 5AF.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

David White

Head of Information, Safety and Community Services

Directorate of Communities, Environment and Central

Royal Borough of Greenwich

 

*   3^rd Floor, The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London, SE18
6HQ

8 [2]www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk

 

ü Please consider the environment before printing this email

 

 

From: foi <[Greenwich Borough Council request email]>
Sent: 14 November 2022 09:19
To: 'Jacqueline' <[FOI #916198 email]>
Cc: foi <[Greenwich Borough Council request email]>
Subject: FOI-70282: Freedom of Information request - Allocations housing

 

Dear Ms Sinclair

 

Freedom of Information request:  FOI-70282

 

Thank you for your request dated 11 November 2022.

 

Your request will be answered by 12 December 2022. 

 

If you have any queries about this request, please contact me, quoting the
reference number above.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

David White

Head of Information, Safety and Community Services

Directorate of Communities, Environment and Central

Royal Borough of Greenwich

 

*   3^rd Floor, The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London, SE18
6HQ

8 [3]www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk

 

ü Please consider the environment before printing this email

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear foi,

In regards to question 5 please see a few properties. There are more but I just selected a few:

1. Meadowside SE9 6BD 3 bed parlour - successful applicant registration date 28.11.2005 - band B1
2. Fossedene Rd SE7 7QA - 4 bed house - successful applicant registration date 27.09.2004 - band B1
3. Ripon Rd SE18 3PS - 4 bed house - successful applicant registration date 10.10.2011 - band B1
4. Metcalfe Court Renaissance Walk - 3 bed maisonette - successful applicant registration date 20.03.2006 - band B1

In regards to question 3 what I meant was when a property is advertised and all bands bid for a property at what point is the decision made that a band A will be offered over a band B1. Is it that as soon as a household is band A they have automatic 1st place - so if they have been band A for 2 weeks and another household has been Band B1 for 4 years Band A still gets 1st position? How is the decision made to decide whether to offer a property advertised to a Band A over Band B1 & vice versa. Is this the same for those on band C?

Yours sincerely,

Jacqueline Sinclair

foi, Greenwich Borough Council

Dear Ms Sinclair

 

Thank you for your email dated 13/12/2022.

 

Your email has been forwarded to the department that provided the initial
response, to provide you with an answer.

 

We remain committed to responding to your request and will respond as soon
as we are able to do so.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Freedom of Information Officer

Information, Safety and Community Services

Directorate of Communities, Environment and Central

Royal Borough of Greenwich

 

*   The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London SE18 6HQ

8 [1]www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk

 

ü Please consider the environment before printing this email

 

 

show quoted sections

foi, Greenwich Borough Council

2 Attachments

Dear Ms Sinclair

 

In response to your email dated 13/12/2022, the department that initially
answered your Freedom of information request has responded with the
attached response.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Freedom of Information Officer

Information, Safety and Community Services

Directorate of Communities, Environment and Central

Royal Borough of Greenwich

 

*   The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London SE18 6HQ

8 [1]www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk

 

ü Please consider the environment before printing this email

 

 

From: foi <[Greenwich Borough Council request email]>
Sent: 14 December 2022 09:08
To: 'Jacqueline' <[FOI #916198 email]>
Cc: foi <[Greenwich Borough Council request email]>
Subject: RE: FOI-70282: Freedom of Information request - Allocations
housing

 

Dear Ms Sinclair

 

Thank you for your email dated 13/12/2022.

 

Your email has been forwarded to the department that provided the initial
response, to provide you with an answer.

 

We remain committed to responding to your request and will respond as soon
as we are able to do so.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Freedom of Information Officer

Information, Safety and Community Services

Directorate of Communities, Environment and Central

Royal Borough of Greenwich

 

*   The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London SE18 6HQ

8 [2]www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk

 

ü Please consider the environment before printing this email

 

 

show quoted sections