An interesting blog has popped up on the Conservative Home Website in relation to the allocation of social housing across the UK.
It reveals that due to localism policy, councils are now being given the power to use their discretion when allocating social housing to serving or former members of the armed forces.
The article goes on to say that as well as being able to give preference to armed forces, councils can favour residents who make a “community contribution” (such as special Police officers) or those making an effort to be in, or get back into work.
Results of FOIA request
A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request revealed how councils across the country have responded, including the Isle of Wight Council.
They say, “It is not felt that those having served in the Armed Forces should get any significantly greater preference than those also in housing need on the register.”
They add that rewarding those in work “could be very demoralising for those unable to gain work to also be unable to gain adequate housing if they are penalised for not being in work.”
No response from the council
We got in touch with the council this morning to ask for a comment, but at time of publishing they had failed to respond (or even acknowledge our request).
We’ll update this article if we hear back from them.
To see how other councils are responding to the new rules, see the full article.
Update 14.08.12
We received a response out of hours on 13th August and have reported here
Image: Philip Taylor PT under CC BY 2.0
