FOI Request - Council Housing

Request 101003688719

1.  Why does Moray Council accept people to fill council houses from out with the council area or even out with Scotland for that matter and why do they accept people who do not even have a connection to the area.

2.  As there is a shortage of council housing in general does Moray Council have an excess of council properties to give to people from out with the area.

3.  Would the council please give me a detailed explanation of their housing policy as what is posted on their web pages doesn't really answer my questions.
4. Can the council also tell me how many people annually they house from outside the area and do these people get priority over people who do have local connections.

Response 15-01-2025

1. In accordance with the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (as amended), Moray Council operates an ‘open’ housing list. Eligibility for accessing the housing list only takes into account the age of the applicant. Anyone aged 16 years and over is entitled to be admitted to the Housing List. The right to be admitted to the list is not a right to be allocated a house.

2. The council does not have an excess of properties specifically to give to people from out with the area. The current housing list at today's date (07/01/25) contains 3571 applicants and in the last reporting year (Apr 2023 - Mar 2024) 416 properties became void and were re-let. This shows that demand exceeds supply. Our allocations policy prioritises those applicants in the greatest housing need. 

3. The Allocation Policy is published and available on the Moray Council website. This information is therefore exempt under section 25 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, information otherwise accessible. For ease of reference please find a link to the web page here:

 http://www.moray.gov.uk/downloads/ file154032.pdf.

Section 13.3 of the Policy states:

Applicants resident outwith Moray

13.3 In allocating housing, the Council can take no account of whether the applicant is resident in Moray if:

• they are employed, have been offered employment or are seeking employment in the area; or • they need to move into Moray to be near a relative or carer; or

• they have a special social or medical reason for requiring to be housed in Moray; or

• they want to move to the area because they are fleeing harassment or at risk of domestic abuse.

4. In 2023/24 the council housed 36 applicants from out with the Moray area. This figure includes 6 refugee referrals from the Home Office and 5 applicants who were released from prison in other areas who would otherwise have become homeless on release.