The Localism Act 2011 introduced a number of changes in social housing, including placing a new duty on all local authorities to publish a tenancy strategy for their area.
In line with this, we have created a Tenancy Strategy (2013 - 2018), which sets out how local landlords might respond to these changes.
This strategy concerns the management of social rented homes within the city (council homes and those owned by housing associations); it looks at how we might best use this important, but limited, resource to meet the needs of households that have difficulty in finding a home on the open market.
The strategy allows us to make choices about how we manage our housing stock in the future and gives guidance to other providers of social housing (such as housing associations) that are active within our city.
It is important to note that housing providers are obliged to have regard to any of the things set out within the strategy when they are developing their own tenancy policies.
Local authorities have considerable freedom in terms of what is agreed as part of the tenancy strategy. We wish to ensure that housing providers make use of the opportunities offered by the reforms in a way that best suits the needs of York and its residents.
What the strategy covers
This tenancy strategy covers 4 specific topic areas:
- tenancies, including the use of fixed term tenancies
- the affordable housing register and the allocation of homes
- using the private rented sector to address homelessness
- enabling greater mobility within the social rented sector
Existing tenants are not affected by these changes.
This strategy outlines the broad guidelines housing providers in York should take into account when developing their individual tenancy policies.
Tenancy policies will outline, amongst other things, the kinds of tenancies to be granted, the length of tenancy terms and the circumstances in which tenancies will be renewed.
Tenancy strategy consultation
Consultation on the draft tenancy strategy has now closed.
Consultation results
Download a summary of the consultation responses.