MORE SAY IN HOUSING CHOICE FOR THANET RESIDENTS

Thanet residents are to get more say over where they want to live and what housing options they have, with the expansion of the country's biggest choice based lettings scheme.

Kent Homechoice, made up of 33 councils and registered social landlords, has been awarded just under £50,000 from the government to expand the scheme into Medway. The scheme already covers all other parts of Kent and includes all district and borough councils and the vast majority of the area's housing associations.

The scheme offer tenants greater mobility, choice and flexibility when looking at their housing options, enabling them to choose what homes they wish to be considered for. Available homes are advertised on the Internet and through digital TV and people can put in bids for homes. On average, around 165 properties are advertised each week by Kent Homechoice to the 31,000 people currently on housing waiting lists.

Housing Minister John Healey said: "Thanks to this funding, more councils and housing associations will be able to offer their tenants more choice in where they want to live beyond the traditional boundaries. These schemes mean that local authorities have another tool to manage their waiting lists more effectively, by ensuring each home is matched to tenants more suited to the property. This is not just a good deal for local authorities, but a good deal for tenants too, enabling those who need to move, perhaps for work, to do so."

Cllr. Zita Wiltshire, Cabinet Member for Community Services, said: "Before Kent Homechoice was introduced, people were allocated homes depending on their needs, the preferences that they gave and the suitability of accommodation. Now applicants, including homeless families, are free to choose what homes they want to be considered for and where. That opens up the choice to them of selecting homes either in the area they currently live in or elsewhere in Kent. With the addition of Medway to the partnership, this will increase choice even further for everyone on housing waiting lists."

For more information about Kent Homechoice, visit www.kenthomechoice.org.uk Kent Homechoice was first introduced in summer 2008 and has since expanded to cover all of Kent, with the exception of Medway. During this time, over 200,000 bids from customers have been made and approximately 4,500 properties have been let. A survey, which received over 7,000 responses, showed that around 80% of people found the Kent Homechoice website easy to use.