New rules published for Bristol families on the housing waiting list

Bristol City Council have issued new rules for people on the housing register in an attempt to provide vulnerable people with a stable home, but in doing so have demolished half of the registers ability to apply for a property.  

Currently, 19,000 families in Bristol are on the housing register, but since new restrictions, which were agreed by Marvin Rees’s cabinet earlier this month, have been announced, 9,500 households have been excluded from applying for a home.

The new rules were created after council leaders were informed that less than 1% of those in the lowest priority, otherwise known as ‘band four’, were allocated a home through the authority’s HomeChoice website and had been given ‘false hope’ of ever being successful as demand for accommodation has outstripped the available supply since the cost-of-living crisis hit.

However, since the alternation of the housing register rules, greater priority will now be given to older people in need of sheltered housing, care leavers, tenants and people at risk of homelessness. Although, people who do not fit into these categories, will not be removed from the housing register.

Tenant representative, Nigel Varely, of Gilton House, Brislington, accused the authority of trying to hide the true scale of the housing crisis.

Nigel said: ‘The headline for this policy has been bumping 9,000 people off the council housing waiting list.

‘That is a mistake. I know the rationale for it was that they stood absolutely no chance of getting a council house so why give them false hope, but the issue is the 19,000 on the list is an indication of the housing problem in Bristol and there is a massive housing crisis in Bristol which people need to be aware of.

‘There needs to be some way for people who require affordable housing or want a council house, even though they have no chance of getting it, to register that interest.

‘If you don’t give them the opportunity to bid, you lose that. We have to have a fight in this city for council housing, we have to fight nationally for council housing and just to massage the figures to make it appear as though it’s a smaller problem than it is not helpful.’

However, in response to this, Paul Sylvester, Head of Housing Options at Bristol City Council, said: ‘We are not getting rid of people. That’s not the plan. People will still be allowed to be on the housing register but we will restrict their bidding.

‘That will enable us to continue to have oversight of need in Bristol. Even though the headlines say that, it’s important that we do know the scale of demand in Bristol, so there was a balance between allowing people to apply but restricting them on bidding.

‘So we know the demand but we are saying it isn’t going to happen for you unless there are particular circumstances, like older people housing or maybe some of the build-to-rent initiatives that are coming up. The housing register will be the size it is at the moment.’

Image: Andy Newton