Great Yarmouth person waits more than 10 years for social housing
The borough council said the main reason people usually refused offers of social housing was due to personal preferences Picture: Mike Page - Credit: Archant
A person in Great Yarmouth has been on the social housing waiting list for more than 10 years.
The applicant joined the list in February 2008 and was still waiting for housing as of April this year, figures reveal.
They are one of 258 people in the borough who are currently on the list.
In 2013, 464 people were waiting for social housing, but this figure had more than halved by 2016, dropping to 219, before gradually increasing over the past two years.
Meanwhile, the number of housing offers that have been rejected has also more than halved.
Calculated by the financial year, figures show that 267 people turned down offers in 2017 by comparison to 127 in 2018.
However this figure still represents a slight increase on 2014, when 121 offers were rejected.
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Conversely, the number of accepted housing offers has decreased since 2014, from 585 acceptances to 464 acceptances in 2018.
The borough council said the main reason people usually refused offers of social housing was due to personal preferences.
A spokesman said: “Each year, only a limited number of social homes become available, meeting different sets of needs. While the requirement in offering a property is solely to meet that individual’s housing need, some applicants choose to refuse offered properties on the basis of personal preferences not related to housing need.
“The main reasons given for refusal are that the offered property is not in their preferred area and/or that the property is not of their preferred type. If someone is a standard housing applicant and refuses two suitable offers, then they are removed from the housing register and have the option to re-apply after a year.”
The spokesman also advised that people can receive guidance from the council on social housing.
They said: “Those looking to join the housing register are invited for a face-to-face conversation with housing officers to discuss their eligibility, individual housing needs, the potential waiting period for a suitable property and whether there are different and faster ways to meet their current needs.”
To find out more about social housing in the Great Yarmouth borough, www.great-yarmouth.gov.uk/registerforhousing
