Buckinghamshire Council Housing Allocations Scheme

The Housing Act 1996 requires that the Bucks Home Choice scheme must give Reasonable Preference to certain groups of people. The Reasonable Preference groups are listed in Section 166A (3) of the Housing Act 1996 as follows:

• People who are homeless (within the meaning of Part 7 (Homelessness) of the Housing Act);
• People who are owed a duty by any local housing authority under Part 7 (Homelessness) of the Housing Act 1996 because they are:
  • Homeless and in priority need but homeless intentionally;
  • Homeless and in priority need and not intentionally homeless;
  • Threatened with homelessness and in priority need and not intentionally homeless;
  • Not intentionally homeless but not in priority need;
• People occupying insanitary or overcrowded housing or otherwise living in unsatisfactory housing conditions.
• People who need to move on medical or welfare grounds (including grounds relating to disability).
• People who need to move to a particular locality in the district of the authority, where failure to meet that need would cause hardship to themselves or others.

The specific categories in the Priority Need bandings (see Appendix 1) take account of these Reasonable Preference categories. However, in deciding how one applicant should be prioritized compared to another with similar needs, the Bucks Home Choice scheme will also take account of factors such as local connection, behaviour and the financial resources available to each applicant.

For example, an applicant who;

(i) falls into one of the Reasonable Preference categories and

(ii) who has a local connection to a district area

will be placed in a higher priority band than an applicant with similar needs who does not have a local connection to the district area. Further information on the qualification and prioritising of applicants can be found in Section 2 of this Policy.