Brent Council claims the measures would ensure those with the greatest housing needs are prioritised
Thousands of North London residents could be impacted by the council’s planned changes to its social housing offering. The local authority has said the changes would ensure those with the greatest need are prioritised, make the allocation process fairer and better manage its limited supply of social housing.
Brent Council has opened a public consultation on the three proposed policy changes as it continues to face “extremely high demand” for social housing and limited supply. The consultation period opened last month and is expected to run until September 13.
The changes, which could affect thousands of residents on the borough’s housing waiting list, include removing Band D priority – the lowest housing need category; introducing a ‘one-offer’ policy; and amending the bedroom sharing rules.
A 2025 review by the Local Government Association (LGA) found that Brent had the second highest number of households on a housing waiting list of any borough in the country, with more than 33,000 registered at the time.
In order for the housing register to “better reflect current need”, the council carried out a re-registration exercise, which reduced the number of active applicants to around 8,349 households. Of those remaining, approximately 6,421 have an identified housing need, according to council figures. This is because of circumstances such as overcrowding, medical needs, homelessness, welfare concerns, or unsuitable housing conditions.
This means that around 1,928 households currently on the housing register do not have an identified housing need and are “unlikely to ever receive an offer of social housing”, the council said. At the same time, around 650 social housing properties become available each year – many of which are one-beds – meaning the local authority “must prioritise those households in the greatest housing need”.
To achieve this, Brent Council has proposed three policy changes which it claims will ensure housing is prioritised based on need, make the allocations fairer, better manage the supply of housing, create greater consistency between rules applied to housing register applicants and homeless households, and make sure applicants have a realistic understanding of their chances of being rehoused. Below is a breakdown of the changes and what they may mean for residents on the register.
Removing Band D
Local authorities use a priority band social housing allocation system, with Band D the lowest priority category. The proposed change involves removing the Band D priority altogether and restricts access to the housing register to applicants who have an identified housing need and meet the council’s eligibility requirements.
Brent Council has said that many Band D applicants “have little or no realistic prospect” of receiving social housing due to a “significant mismatch between supply and demand”. It claims the change would ensure the housing register “more accurately reflects housing need” and focuses resources on “households with the greatest need”.
Of the 8,349 active applicants remaining on the housing register, the council has identified around 6,421 of those with a priority need. This means that “a substantial number” of current applicants could be affected by the change. Whilst impacted residents would still be able to access housing advice, they would not be eligible to remain on the register unless they meet the relevant need criteria.
Introduce a ‘One-Offer’ policy
Under the second proposed change, applicants would receive “one suitable offer” of social housing but, if they refuse the offer, it could affect their priority or eligibility for future offers. Currently, those on the register can refuse suitable offers without impacting their priority but the council claims the measure will “make best use of limited housing stock” and bring the process in line with the approach used for homeless households.
The council defines a suitable offer as one that “meets the households assessed housing needs” under the local authority’s allocation rules. The changes would only include a suitable offer within Brent and not apply to offerings from outside of the borough.
Brent Council claims the potential benefits include: faster allocation of available homes; a reduced number of properties being repeatedly advertised; a better use of scarce housing resources; and greater consistency between allocation and homelessness processes.
Bedroom Sharing Rules
The third change proposed would mean that same-sex adults who are over the age of 21 and part of the same household be expected to share a bedroom when assessing housing need. The measure would primarily affect households containing same-sex siblings or relatives who currently receive separate bedroom entitlement under the current rules.
The council claims the move would provide greater consistency between different housing assessment frameworks, as well as making more efficient use of its limited housing stock and increase its ability to prioritise households “with the most acute overcrowding needs”.
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