HomeChoice: changes to how we prioritise social housing consultation 2025

Further information

Overview

How does the current lettings system work?

The service for letting social housing in Bristol is called HomeChoice Bristol. Social housing provides affordable homes for people who are on lower incomes, in vulnerable situations or who have specialist housing needs.

HomeChoice Bristol is a partnership between Bristol City Council and housing associations in the city. Households must use the HomeChoice service to register and apply for social housing in Bristol.

HomeChoice has four bands to prioritise housing need where Band 1 is for people in highest need, while those in the Band 4 are deemed to have no immediate housing need.

All properties that are available are advertised through HomeChoice Bristol and applicants can bid on properties that meet their needs. The property will usually be let to the applicant in the highest band who has been waiting longest in that band.

Information about priority and bands on the HomeChoice Bristol website

Background to the proposals

We proposed two changes to the way council and social housing is allocated across Bristol through HomeChoice Bristol.

There are currently over 22,000 households on the HomeChoice housing waiting list.

We want to make the housing letting process fair, easy to use and transparent for all who use it, providing housing to those that are in most need. We need to make the best use of our limited housing as we cannot currently meet the needs of everyone on the register.

In this consultation, the terms ‘serious’, ‘significant’, ‘difficulty’, ‘mass emergency event’ and ‘prolonged’ were determined by Bristol City Council based on the evidence provided. 

Proposal 1: Band uplift for social housing tenants who have had to leave their home for a prolonged period (in excess of several weeks) due to a significant mass emergency event that is recognised by a relevant authority.

We proposed to give additional priority to social housing tenants who have been evacuated due to a significant mass emergency event that causes multiple households to leave their home for a prolonged period of time (in excess of several weeks) to live in alternative or emergency accommodation. These tenants would have their band assessment changed to higher priority by one band.

We proposed this change after listening to, and working with, residents who have been affected by the evacuation of Barton House in November 2023 due to safety concerns in the building, as well as their advocates and support groups. We know that this experience caused distress to some residents.

This change would apply to all tenants living in social housing, not just those in Barton House, and would support residents should any recognised mass emergency event take place in future.

Proposal 2 – To award a Band 2 priority for significant health and welfare needs.

The HomeChoice allocation service currently provides priority housing for people with certain levels of health and welfare needs.

However, there is currently a gap between those with the highest level of housing-related health and welfare needs (who are placed in Band 1) and those with minor needs (who are placed in Band 3).

We proposed to award a Band 2 priority for households whose health is significantly affected by their current housing. This would be awarded to applicants who do not meet Band 1 criteria, but still meet a set of eligibility criteria for significant health and welfare needs. These criteria are outlined in the consultation.

The proposal would fill the gap between Band 1 and Band 3 allocations and support people whose health is significantly affected by their housing.