Rationing housing to the homeless applicant

Abstract

Local authority housing departments have rationing systems where demand for public housing outstrips supply and the homelessness legislation, Housing Act 1985 Part III, is the formal method of rationing housing to the homeless applicant. Little has been noted about the ways in which housing may be rationed to the homeless although the issue of access to housing through homelessness has been brought to the forefront of debate by the DOE consultation document. This paper considers formal and informal methods of rationing housing to the homeless applicant. Rationing by eligibility rules, withholding information, deterrence, delay and dilution are discussed together with the use of discretion in the rationing process.