People on the housing waiting list could lose out after councillors voted to give a higher priority to people with mobility problems, according to a Brighton campaigner.
Daniel Harris also said that the change went before members of Brighton and Hove City Council to decide without first having gone out to consultation.
Councillors voted to allow people with mobility needs the right to bid on suitable homes in all housing queues.
They were told that the changes addressed a disadvantage for people with mobility problems who were not given priority over other applicants for accessible homes.
Now, “mobility classified” properties, such as single-level ground-floor properties, would be removed from general bidding on the housing list.
Only households including someone with mobility issues would now be allowed to apply for these properties.
The council’s Housing and New Homes Committee was told that this would make the process more transparent for everyone.
Mr Harris said: “Can the council provide a firm commitment to collaborate with and actively consult both services and members of the Homemove Brighton Action Group moving forward?”
He said that the changes could potentially leave many people awaiting a housing transfer “with no meaningful alteration to their circumstances and longer waits”.
Mr Harris said that some people’s disabilities were not necessarily physical such as families with autistic children who required housing support.
Labour councillor Andrei Czolak, the deputy chair of the Housing and New Homes Committee, said that the proposal was not a major policy change.
Councillor Czolak said that the changes would have a “positive impact” on people who required an adapted home.
The focus was on those who could not get through doors and had difficulty moving around their homes. He said: “These households form a minority of applicants on the housing register.
“There will be no noticeable disproportionate impact on other households on the housing register because they will not be eligible to bid for mobility-classified accommodation.”
Councillor Czolak said that the proposals would improve the situation for others on the waiting list who would be competing for different properties.
The committee was told that the council’s housing allocation policy was being reviewed, with proposals due before the committee next year and a consultation planned.
Currently, half of the properties offered through the council’s housing register were allocated to homeless people – and almost 13 per cent of those had disabilities.
Labour councillor Faiza Baghoth said: “I know people who have been waiting for accommodation for more than eight years and they can’t move.”
The change would make it easier for people to move and free up their properties for use by other people.
Conservative councillor Anne Meadows asked if the council kept properties that had been adapted for the disabled or elderly.
The council’s assistant director for housing management Martin Reid said that the council had a register of adapted homes.
He said that the council did not remove adaptations when homes were relet, particularly when the adaptations were “significant and structural”.
A report to the committee, which met at Hove Town Hall on Wednesday (15 November), said that 4,589 households were on the housing register.
Of these, 1,358 were homeless, and 12.9 per cent of those were disabled. Some 1,124 people were waiting for a transfer – and 62.1 per cent of those were disabled.
The “council interest” queue, which included care leavers, consisted of 85 households – and a few of those were people with disabilities.
Councillor Anne Meadows, housing for elderly people used to be called Sheltered Housing. They changed the name to Seniors Housing (inappropriate name in my opinion), and the starting age to apply is 55 years old now.
To be honest, I can’t work out what’s happening. Does it mean:
All people with mobility problems will be moved up the list carte blanche or, only moved up the list when there are suitable properties?
My understanding is that each property is individually bid for. For each property, according to this vote, if it is a property with accessible features, if a bidder with matching accessibility needs, they will be given priority over anyone else who does not.
Happy to be corrected on this.
Sheltered didn’t just mean elderly.
It stands to reason that allocating a home with adaptive features should take precedence for individuals in need of those specific accommodations, especially when the features in question are both substantial and financially significant, such as the inclusion of a Homelift.
In light of the severe shortage of available housing stock, the waiting list must adopt an exceptionally pragmatic approach. The complexity behind the inadequate housing supply underscores the challenge. Realistically, rapid construction isn’t a viable short-term solution. However, an immediate and impactful step forward lies in formulating a robust housing strategy. This demands urgent attention from the central government as a pivotal political issue.
When we viewed our bungalow, the other people waiting to view were a single man who was a little ‘off’ and a young woman with a baby. What would they need with an adapted bathroom? Also everyone else in the row was over 65 and some had health problems. Do they really want those people ax new neighbours? We both had health problems – he was in hospital at the time. Only one lady in the row does not have mobility problems. We don’t need young kids running about making noise at our age, especially if we are ill, or someone who is mentally unstable?