Public Policy: Using Market-Based Approaches - Department for ...

Public Policy: Using Market-Based Approaches
Camden is an example of a high demand area that chose to retain its pointsbased
system largely because it felt that an effective currency expressed in
points mimicked the operation of prices in a real market more closely than
bands. By giving an indicative price for each property, Camden hopes
households will look at this price relative to their currency and work out if they
have a realistic chance of accessing a similar property or whether they should
adjust their search strategy accordingly.
In total, five broad approaches have been used to assess housing need for CBL
schemes. These have allocated to households either:
● a number of points with which to bid. These points are related to housing
circumstances, as under a traditional points system;
● a housing-need band with which to bid. Within bands, households can be
ranked by date order;
● an amount of waiting time with which to bid, typically taken from registration
date. These systems often include a time-limited priority card for urgent
re-housing cases;
● differential status on the basis of tenancy history. For example, an excellent
tenant (based on criteria including tenancy standards, such as keeping rent
payments up to date) could be offered a property in preference to an
otherwise identical non-excellent tenant; or
● a property on a first-come-first-served basis. This approach typically
complements the main CBL approach based on housing need or waiting time,
for example, for properties receiving no expression of interest following
advertisement.
The means used to assess housing need strongly influences the type of
applicant who can access which property. If no other constraints are placed on
bidding, households awarded the highest amount of currency under the chosen
assessment mechanism will be the successful bidders. One constraint that can
be placed on bidding is property labelling, which can be used to restrict the type
of applicants entitled to bid for a particular property. Labelling criteria may take
the form of a minimum age requirement or number of children in the household,
for example, and often appear alongside the advert for the vacant property. They
may also be incorporated into the rules of the scheme so that applicants are told
the type of property for which they will be eligible to bid when they register.
Labelling is often the vehicle through which other policy priorities are achieved,
such as policies designed to create more sustainable communities.
Once bidding closes, a shortlist for each property is drawn up ranking bidders by
eligibility, currency level and any other relevant criteria. The eligible bidder with
the highest amount of currency is then offered the property, subject to
verification of their details.
124