Associations are housing fewer homeless people

Statistics from the Housing Corporation show that associations have cut their lettings to statutory homeless households by almost a quarter.

And a corporation fact file on the figures points out that housing association tenants are more likely have lower housing needs.

Shelter policy officer Sarah Kincaid said social housing ought to go to people in the greatest need, but the figures reflected a trend: "We know housing associations have been doing this for some time.

"We have very serious concerns about what's happening to people in housing need. There's a concern they're getting sidelined. They're likely to be spending longer in inappropriate or unsuitable housing."

She said the figures raised questions about the extent to which the provisions of the 1996 Housing Act were ensuring that homeless people were getting access to housing.

Only 10.7 per cent of association lettings in 1997/98 were to homeless households compared to 14.7 per cent the year before. This was the fourth year in a row that associations reported a drop in homeless lettings.

Council nominations were also down to 45 per cent, from a peak two years earlier of 51 per cent.

The Corporation interprets the figures as showing that more associations are following the advice of housing management guru David Page, by exerting greater control over their own lettings.

Page's influential report Building for Communities in 1993 found a connection between the decline of estates and the concentrations of poor households.

The Fact File, published in the latest Roof magazine says: "Many RSLs now pursue policies which endeavour to achieve a balance of household types within any specific scheme or area."