The Homechoice partnership
After consulting our Tenants Forum, Soha has entered into a partnership called 'Homechoice' with South Oxfordshire District Council. Other local housing associations are also joining this partnership.
In the future, all local housing association homes will be let through Homechoice and consequently Soha will no longer keep a separate register of people seeking a Soha home.
Homechoice will also mean a change from the traditional way of allocating homes to a 'Choice-Based Lettings' system. All empty housing association homes will be advertised through Homechoice and registered applicants can choose to apply for that home. Soha applicants should have already received some information about Homechoice and the Council will provide more details to all applicants over the coming months.
What is Choice Based Lettings (CBL)?
Choice Based Lettings is a new way of letting social rented properties. All empty housing association properties are advertised (as estate agents advertise properties for sale) and applicants on the housing register can choose which properties they want to bid for. The bids are then ranked in order of priority and the property is offered to the bidder with the most priority.
Read more about CBL – and how it affects you – by clicking to the South Oxfordshire District Council website Housing pages .
Why is CBL different from the current system?
At the moment the Council runs a points based allocations system. This means that the Council awards each applicant on the waiting list a certain number of points depending on their level of housing needs. Under CBL a banding scheme will be set up which will replace the points system.
What is a banding scheme?
In a banding scheme there are a number of bands, usually five or six. The different bands reflect broad categories of housing need, from very high to very low. Applicants will be placed in a band, which reflects their priority and housing need. Applicants in the higher bands will have greater priority for housing.
How will properties be advertised?
All properties that become available to let will be advertised regularly (either fortnightly or weekly). This will be done in a variety of ways including newsletters and on the internet.
How will I bid for a property?
If you want to be considered for a property, you will be able to make a bid by telephone, by post or over the internet.
Who will get the property?
The bidder with the highest priority for the advertised property will be nominated to the Housing Association. Information about the number of bids for each property, and the priority of the successful applicant, will be published so that you can see which the most and least popular areas are. No personal details about applicants will be published.
Who will decide who has the highest priority?
The Council's Housing Allocation Policy sets out who is eligible to join the Housing Register, who will be able to bid for properties, and how priority will be decided. Applicants in higher bands will have more priority than those in lower bands. If more than one applicant in a high band bids for a property, priority will be given to local connection with South Oxfordshire, and to applicants who have waited the longest.
How will this affect Soha Housing tenants?
Soha Housing will continue to give you housing advice to help you understand the Choice Based Lettings scheme.
The Soha Housing and Transfer Registers were closed on 30 May 2008. If you were listed on these registers at this time we will pass your details to South Oxfordshire District Council to register with Homechoice if you ask us to.
We can help our vulnerable tenants to bid for properties and will continue to work closely with support workers if you ask us to.
We will continue to advertise the mutual exchange register on the Homechoice and Soha Housing’s websites, our office and South Oxfordshire District Council’s offices, Henley and Thame Town Halls and the Berinsfield Information Centre.