Allocations and Lettings – Taking Customer Choice Forward in England?

Abstract

ABSTRACT A step change has taken place in allocations policy in England with the recent adoption of choice-based letting (CBL). This centres on a customer-oriented approach with households responding to adverts. It requires the customer to indicate preferences based on social housing market information as opposed to landlords dictating an offer of a vacant property based on a measure of need. Innovative schemes by social housing organizations in the late 1990s provided the foundation for subsequent endorsement by the government. There have been many reasons for its adoption, including a greater customer orientation, tackling low demand, building sustainable neighbourhoods and improving organizational efficiency. Initial evaluation suggests positive benefits from the customer perspective of the lettings process (e.g. transparency), compared with traditional bureaucratic rationing systems. Nevertheless, there have been concerns on, for example, the impact on vulnerable groups and the extent to which CBL con...