Applying for Housing guidance notes www.thenuehousing.co.uk How do I apply for a house? The Association operates an open housing list which means that anyone over the age of 16 years old can apply to us and be admitted to our housing list. Our Allocations Policy sets out how we allocate our vacant properties. A full version of the Policy is available on request or from our website, and a summary version can be found on page 6. Here we set out how you can be considered for rehousing with us. 1. Housing List a) How do I apply to join the list? Firstly you will need to complete the accompanying Application Form. Once you have done this, you should submit it to any of our offices. b) How is my application assessed? We carry out an assessment of your current circumstances and look at a range of criteria, including whether you are overcrowding your current home, whether you are living in insecure housing or whether you have any medical conditions which are being affected by where you are staying. We aim to complete the assessment of your application within 15 days of receiving your completed form and we will write to you detailing the outcome of your application. Your provisional assessment letter will include the Priority Needs Group your application is in, the size of property for which you qualify, the type and area preference. c) Offers of Rehousing: Normally vacant properties will be allocated to the applicant with the highest priority (appropriate to their needs and preferences). Before being considered for an offer of rehousing, we will contact you to confirm the situation regarding your application and your priority for rehousing. We will carry out some checks and will either interview you at our office or visit you at home. In addition, reports will be requested from your current or previous landlord. If you owe more than one month’s rent, you will normally need to have a satisfactory repayment plan before you can be offered rehousing. d) Local Lettings Plans: In addition to our Priority Group system, we operate Lettings Plans to ensure that we not only give reasonable preference to applicants in housing need, but also to assist us in achieving mixed and sustainable communities. Our Lettings Plans are reviewed once a year: full details of our current Lettings Plans are listed on Appendix One of our Allocations Policy and in our leaflet “Our Priority Groups and Lettings Plans Explained”. e) Review of the Lists: Each year, you will be contacted by letter and asked to confirm whether you wish to stay on our list and to let us know if there are any changes to your circumstances. If you do not return your review form within the 28 day deadline, we will contact you again to advise you that your application will be cancelled within seven days unless we hear back from you. If you contact us within four weeks of your application being cancelled, we can reinstate your application but if you contact us after that time, you will have to re-apply to us. f) Change of Circumstances. If you change your address or if any of your household circumstances change, you must advise us as it could affect your application. If your address changes you will have to complete another application form and your application will be reassessed. page 2 ‘applying for housing application form’ g) Declaration: Both you and, if appropriate, the joint applicant need to sign the Declaration at the end of the form. By signing the Declaration, you are confirming that the information you have supplied is true and accurate and you are acknowledging that any misleading or withheld information may have consequences for your application and any future offer of rehousing. It also allows us to contact, where appropriate, other relevant agencies in relation to your rehousing application and any future offer of rehousing. 2. Glasgow City Council Referrals We have an arrangement with Glasgow City Council whereby they are able to nominate for a percentage of properties which become available for letting during the year. These are for people who are homeless and who we will, wherever possible, assist in rehousing in one of our communities. 3. Special Lets We also receive requests from other agencies, such as Social Work Services, for help in rehousing people with particular needs. Again, wherever possible, we do our best to assist agencies in offering appropriate rehousing to people wishing to live in one of our communities. 4. Property Information Detailed information on the size and location of our housing is in our application form. Most of our properties are one and two bedroomed tenement flats. We have few larger properties and they seldom become empty and we have very few wheelchair user houses. Some of our houses have been designated for older people only, or for persons requiring support in order to maintain a tenancy with us. The map on page 5 details the areas in which we have housing, which includes: a) General Needs Housing: Flats or houses which are suitable for people who do not require specially adapted housing or housing for a particular need. We own approximately 2500 properties across the communities where we operate. b) Older People’s Housing: We have a small number of amenity flats in Bridgeton, Calton and Castlemilk. Some are fitted with a community alarm system, and they all have non-slip flooring and electric sockets at a level which are easy to reach. c) We have 128 sheltered flats in Bridgeton and Calton. These flats have grab rails, special bathroom fittings, a community alarm system and the services of Housing Support staff. There is also a common room where regular social events are held and where tenants and local groups can meet. To be considered for sheltered or amenity housing, you will normally be 60 years old or over and for our older people’s housing, you will normally be 50 years or over. If you are interested in sheltered housing, there is an additional assessment required to be undertaken by the Association’s staff to determine whether you would be eligible for this type of housing and support. A separate leaflet is available from any of our offices or from our website. d) Furnished Housing: We have a small number of one-bedroom part- furnished flats in Saltmarket and fully furnished flats in Bridgeton and Calton. We can also discuss with you the option of supplying a furniture package if you need this to allow you to accept an offer of rehousing from us. october 2011 page 3 Summary - Rental Properties Area Total Number Flat/House Type Number of Bed- Owned rooms Baillieston 19 Houses and bungalows 2-3 Blackhill 123 Houses and flats 1-5 Tenement flats 1-3 Cottage flats 2 Bridgeton 1133 Houses 2-5 Bungalows 2-3 Tenement flats (with a lift) 1-2 Tenement flats 1-2 Calton 636 Houses 1-5 Bungalows 2-3 Wheelchair user flat 1-2 Castlemilk 159 Tenement flats 1-2 Houses 3-5 Cottage flats 1-2 Cranhill 280 Houses 2-5 Bungalows 1-3 Tenement flats 1-4 Dalmarnock 72 Houses 3 Summary - Shared Ownership/New Supply Shared Equity Properties Area Total Number Size (apartments) Type Owned Cottage flat 2 3 Blackhill Semi-detached 1 4 house 6 2 Tenement flat 32 3 Tenement flat Bridgeton 15 3 House 14 4 House Calton 3 3 Tenement flat 3 Tenement flat Carmyle 24 4 Tenement flat Castlemilk 3 4 Terraced house Semi-detached 4 3 house Cranhill 4 4 Semi-detached house 2 2 Tenement flat Dalmarnock 1 3 Tenement flat TOTAL 111 page 4 ‘applying for housing application form’ Map showing the communities where we have housing to rent or buy 5. Housing for Sale The Association has shared ownership and/or new supply shared equity housing in Blackhill, Bridgeton, Castlemilk, Calton, Carmyle, Cranhill and Dalmarnock. Shared Ownership allows you to own a share of a property leaving the remaining share as a monthly rent. Shared Equity means you can initially purchase a share of between 50%-80% with the Scottish Government owning the remaining share which they will retain until such time as you are able to purchase your home. More information on this type of housing is available from our offices. 6. Mutual Exchanges We may be able to match your application with another applicant seeking to ‘swap’ homes with another tenant, who may be our tenant or a tenant of another Housing Association or Local Authority. A Mutual Exchange Register is kept at the reception desk which you can look at any time during office hours and additional information on ‘Homeswapper’ is available on our website or directly on www.HomeSwapper.co.uk 7. Equal Opportunities Monitoring You will see that on page 19 of the application form, we ask you to complete an Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form. The information does not form part of your rehousing assessment and is removed from your application. We ask this information to ensure that we can show we are not discriminating against any particular groups. 8. Comments and Complaints We welcome comments, suggestions and complaints from our customers to help us develop our service. Information contact can be made with a member of staff from the Housing & Support Team - either by phone, in person, by letter or by email. Formal complaints should normally be made in writing and will be dealt with by our Head of Housing. If your complaint remains unresolved, it will be considered by our Chief Executive, then representatives from our Management Committee.