Consultation on Barnet's plans to cut the housing waiting list by, well, cutting the housing waiting list

Barnet's Labour group is urging Barnet residents to have their say on the council's plans to change the way council housing is allocated in Barnet - and to reject them.

There is an article about it here in the Times series; the consultation can be accessed here.

The council's plans, according to its website, are:

To replace the existing points system with a banding system that prioritises people in high need but also recognises the valuable contribution that people who are working or volunteering make to their local community

To replace bidding with a system called assisted choice where staff help those in housing need choose a property that meets their needs from those that are available

To close our open housing waiting list so that we no longer accept applications from people who are not in high housing need who would have little or no chance of being rehoused by the council.

The comments I would offer are: it sounds like they only want "good citizens" in future - just what sort of things do people have to offer to get on the list? And saying that someone has "little or no chance of being rehoused by the council" is not the same as saying that they do not need council accommodation!

Barnet should set out to make more accommodation available, rather than shifting the goalposts.

The consultation ends on 15 October.