Looking for a home.indd - Westminster City Council

COUNCIL AND HOUSING ASSOCIATION HOMESCOUNCIL AND HOUSING ASSOCIATION HOMESARE YOU LIKELY TO GET A PROPERTY?If we accept a duty to house you because youare unintentionally homeless and have a priorityneed for housing (see the list on the previouspage) we can, as an option, give you priority for acouncil or housing association property. The waitfor properties can be several years, especially ifyou need a home with two or more bedrooms.So while you are waiting, we will place you intemporary accommodation; this may be outsideWestminster.Where we do not have a legal duty to house youbecause you are homeless, you will only have arealistic chance of getting a council or housingassociation property from us if you are includedin one of the other groups listed on page 19 andall the following apply.• You have lived in Westminster continuously forthe last two years;• Your total household income is below the figureat which an individual becomes liable to pay thehigher rate of income tax;• The total combined savings of all the membersof your household amounts to less than £64,507(This figure was correct at the time of printing butmay have since increased); and• No one in your application owns a property.IF YOU ARE SOMEONE WE CAN HOUSEWe let nearly all vacant properties through ourChoice Based Lettings scheme. When propertiesbecome available we advertise them and allowpriority housing applicants to bid for them. Ifmore than one person is interested in a property,it will go to the bidder with the highest priorityfor housing provided it is suitable for them. Whenyou apply we will tell you whether you have ahigh enough priority to bid for properties. If weallow you to bid, you will join a register of over4000 households who also have a high priorityfor housing. So, except where you are over 60and register for Community Supportive Housing(see page 13) it may be several years before youget a property of your own.APPLYING DIRECTLY TO A HOUSINGASSOCIATIONSome housing associations will accept directapplications from certain groups of people. Ifyou are not likely to be housed by us, it may beworthwhile approaching some of them yourself.You can get a list of such housing associationsfrom the Housing Options Service.20 21