FOI Request - Council Housing Waiting Times
Request 101003535816
1. Please can you advise me the current average waiting time for a 1/2 bedroom single retired person housing/bungalow with outdoor space or similar scenario in Moray for someone just beginning on the waiting list.
2. Please can you advise which council housing towns or villages or regions in Moray has the most available council housing and most frequently has a fast turnover for someone looking to be housed.
3. Also please advise how waiting for a property with outside space may limit the above chances based on historical information and knowledge of current housing stock
Response 17-04-2024
1. As at 5 April 2024, the average waiting time for 1 and 2 bedroom house for someone who has been on our housing list for is 3 Years. However, we do not have a specific question for outdoor space, we have things like ground floor cottage flats that might be considered suitable to this client group.
In addition, with the exception of homeless households who are normally rehoused in date order, we operate a needs- based allocations policy. The total number of points on the application determines the position on the housing list at any given time and we do not award any points associated with length of time spent on the list. An applicant’s circumstances may worsen or improve during the life of their housing application, and this means their total number of points may be reassessed and their position can change frequently. Our allocations policy is available at www.moray.gov.uk/downloads/file125428.pdf.
2. We would need more specific information about the needs of the households to be able to answer this question. For example,
• Composition of the household (are we safe to assume single/retired based on Q1 with no carer?) to determine the size of property the household is eligible for in line with our allocation policy.
• the type required e.g. sheltered, ground floor, suitable for wheelchair user etc.
• whether there are certain locations the applicant is not willing to consider.
Once a housing application is submitted, our housing needs team would be able to provide tailored advice to increase the applicant's chance of receiving an offer. It would be inappropriate to provide this response through an FOI, because it may be to detriment of the applicant concerned. You can apply for council housing at http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_101375.html
If you would like to discuss with the member of the housing needs team before submitting the application, please send your contact information to with a brief description of the circumstances of the household Housing.needs@moray.gov.uk
3. For the same reason as Question 2, we cannot provide this information. We do not allocate properties with gardens as part of our policy but may decide following a Functional Assessment that an applicant needs a garden on medical grounds. If an applicant is offered and refused the offer due to lack of garden, unless deemed essential following a Functional Assessment then this would be classed as a reasonable offer. Timescales would be dependent on vacancies/areas/size/type of property etc. Information on Housing Functional Assessment is available http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_42973.html