Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what safeguards are in place to ensure social housing intended for elderly people is used for that purpose.
Local councils are responsible for allocating social housing and have freedom to tailor their allocation priorities to meet the needs of their local communities, including the most vulnerable people. In doing so, by law they must ensure that 'reasonable preference' (priority) is given to people in certain categories including those who need to move for medical or welfare reasons, which can include older and disabled people. This is to ensure that social housing goes to those who need it most.