Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of reforming social housing eligibility criteria to include families local to the area being considered who cannot (a) afford to rent a property privately and (b) obtain a mortgage in (i) rural areas and (ii) Cornwall.

Local authorities are responsible for designing and managing their own social housing allocations policies to meet local need, including setting qualification criteria appropriate to their local area. These schemes are governed by a legal framework set by central government.

Local authorities may (but are not obliged to) take an applicant’s financial resources into account when considering their application for social housing, including whether they can secure alternative accommodation at market rent.

Local authorities can also adopt a residency or local connection test for social housing which require a well-established local association or the individual(s) having lived in their area for a certain period before they can access the social housing waiting list.