Policy Last Amended: 30 January 2012
1. Background
The social housing sector aims to promote a successful and sustainable tenancy when matching a client to a social housing property. In general, this means matching a client to a property that:
- Is large enough for the client’s household, and
- Meets any special needs of the client, so far as these are known, and
- Assists the client to access special support services that they need, and
- Makes the best use of available housing stock in a timeframe that balances the client’s need for stable housing with the costs to the housing provider of providing assistance. This includes ensuring that properties with specific features that are in high demand and short supply are only offered to those clients who need them. These features include:
- Properties suitable for older people, or
- Properties that have been built or modified to meet the needs of people with a disability, or
- In some areas, properties on the ground floor, properties with level access, or properties with yards.
Generally, a client will receive up to two reasonable offers of housing from their preferred provider. This means that, where a client selects public housing and community housing as their preferred provider, they may receive offers from Housing NSW, any of the participating community housing providers, or a combination of both.
In some cases where a tenant is relocating for management purposes, or when a client has been approved for emergency temporary accommodation, they may receive only one reasonable offer.
A social housing provider will consider an offer of social housing reasonable if, based on the information provided by the client, the offer meets the client’s known housing needs. The provider making the offer will determine the reasonableness of the offer in accordance with their own policies.
The intent of this policy is to explain how a social housing provider matches and offers a social housing property to a client. The Social Housing Eligibility and Allocations Policy Supplement provides further information to support this document.
2. Scope
This policy applies to all applicants on the NSW Housing Register, and all offers of social housing made by participating social housing providers under Housing Pathways.
3. Policy statement
Client information
Social housing providers expect clients to provide accurate and up to date information about their housing needs so that providers can appropriately match the client to a property that meets those needs. This means that:
- A client who is on the NSW Housing Register must tell a provider if their contact details or anything in their situation that is relevant to their housing needs changes.
- A provider can ask clients for updated information at any time while they are on the NSW Housing Register.
- If a client does not respond to contact from a provider their application will be closed.
For further information about management of social housing applications see Managing the NSW Housing Register Policy.
Matching a client to a social housing property
Individual housing providers are responsible for allocating their own vacant properties in accordance with their own matching policies. When a vacancy occurs, the social housing provider who manages the property will allocate it, in line with their matching policy, to the next appropriate person on the NSW Housing Register.
The NSW Housing Register is a single list of approved clients waiting for social housing. The NSW Housing Register lists clients according to their required housing location, their approval category and approval date.
When a housing provider matches a client to a property on the NSW Housing Register, it relies on:
- Information supplied by the client about their housing needs, and
- Decisions made by the provider based on an assessment of the information supplied by the client, and
- Information about the property.
The criteria a social housing provider uses to match a client to a property will depend on the:
- Ownership of the property, and
- Location of the property, and
- Type of property, and
- Number of bedrooms in the property, and
- Individual eligibility and matching policies of the provider.
Social housing providers will match clients according to their own matching policies.
Generally, social housing providers will house clients in the following order:
- Clients approved for emergency temporary accommodation
- Clients approved for urgent housing
- Elderly clients (clients who are aged 80 and over, or 55 and over if Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander)
- Clients approved for a transfers on a priority basis, or clients being relocated for management purposes
- Clients approved for wait turn housing and wait turn transfer.
Each community housing provider has an allocation policy that is available to the public. The matching policy of a social housing provider is an important consideration because providers may have slightly different prioritisation rules and, in some cases, additional eligibility criteria. For example, a community housing provider who only provides housing to single women will be able to pass over a person with a higher priority if they are not a single woman.
Matching a client to a public or Aboriginal Housing Office property
In general, Housing NSW properties are available to any applicant on the NSW Housing Register whose need matches the property. However, some properties are only available to a client group with a specific need. For example, a public housing senior communities property will only be offered to an older client.
For more information on types of Housing NSW properties and specific matching criteria, go to Housing NSW property types and Criteria for matching clients to properties.
Matching a client to a community housing property
Community housing providers will apply their own entitlement and matching policies when identifying a suitable client for an available property. These entitlements may differ between community housing providers and/or public housing. Clients wishing to find out information about entitlements for community housing properties, for example, the number of bedrooms that may suit their household, should contact their local community housing provider.
Offering a property to a client
Who will make an offer and how many offers will be made at the one time?
Under Housing Pathways clients applying for housing assistance and tenants seeking a transfer can generally indicate their preferred housing provider(s). This means clients will receive offers of accommodation from their preferred provider only. However, where appropriate, for example in areas of low demand or where a client has a critical housing circumstance, a client may receive an offer of accommodation from a non-preferred provider. Before making any such offer, the prospective client’s preferred provider will seek their agreement to the client receiving an offer from a non-preferred provider.
Clients will only receive one offer of accommodation at any point in time. This means that they should not be offered a property managed by one social housing provider at the same time as being offered a property managed by a different provider.
Contacting the client and/or a third party about an offer
The offer process begins when a social housing provider selects a client from the NSW Housing Register as a suitable match for an available property. The social housing provider will usually contact the client by phone or, if unable to contact the client, they may send an express post letter requesting that the client contact the provider urgently.
Under some Accord and other support partnerships, social housing providers must notify the support agencies when making an offer to confirm that the property is suitable, and that the support of the agency will continue to be available for the client once they have accepted the property.
At the time of the offer, the social housing provider will reconfirm the client’s eligibility to receive an offer and, if eligible, advise the client of the type and length of lease that they will offer. This will differ, depending on the individual policies of each social housing provider. For example, if a client accepts an offer of public or Aboriginal housing, Housing NSW will offer the client a fixed term lease, based on an assessment of their current household circumstances.
Timeframe to respond to an offer
After a social housing provider makes an offer, they will expect the client to view the property and, within a reasonable timeframe of receiving details of the offer, tell the provider if they will accept the offer. This timeframe will vary from provider to provider.
For an offer of public or Aboriginal housing, the timeframe is two days, except where Housing NSW extends the timeframe for a short time if the client requests it and has good reasons for making the request. For more information, go to Extension of timeframes.
For an offer of community housing, the provider will advise the client about the timeframe for response at the time of making the offer.
If the client accepts an offer
If the client accepts an offer, the social housing provider will usually expect them to sign the tenancy agreement within a reasonable timeframe of accepting the offer. This timeframe will vary from provider to provider.
For an offer of public or Aboriginal housing, the timeframe is one week, except where Housing NSW extends the timeframe for a short time if the client requests it and has good reasons for making the request. For more information, go to Extension of timeframes.
For an offer of community housing, the provider will advise the client about the timeframe for signing the agreement at the time the client accepts the offer.
A social housing provider will remove the client from the NSW Housing Register when they have signed a tenancy agreement.
If the client does not accept an offer
If the client does not accept the offer, the social housing provider will ask the client to provide their reason for rejecting the offer in writing. The client must provide this information within a reasonable timeframe. The timeframe will vary from provider to provider.
For an offer of public or Aboriginal housing, the timeframe is within:
- Seven days of rejecting the offer if being relocated for portfolio management purposes
- 14 days of rejecting the offer if being relocated for tenancy management purposes
- 28 days of rejecting the offer for all other applicants.
For an offer of community housing, the provider will advise the client about the timeframe for providing written reasons at the time the client rejects the offer.
When the social housing provider receives the information, or, if they do not receive the information within the allocated timeframe, the provider who made the offer will consider all the available information and decide whether the client’s response is:
- A rejection of a reasonable offer, which means the offer will count towards the number of offers the client is entitled to receive (in most cases two, but sometimes one), or
- A valid refusal of an unreasonable offer, which means that the offer will not count towards the number of offers the client is entitled to receive.
The social housing provider that made the offer will determine the reasonableness of the offer in accordance with its own policy. Each social housing provider has defined the situations in which it will regard an offer as accepted, rejected or withdrawn, and where it will suspend an application. For information on Housing NSW policy, go to Accepting, rejecting and withdrawing offers and suspending applications.
Community housing providers will advise applicants of their criteria for determining the reasonableness of an offer at the time they make the offer.
If a client rejects their final reasonable offer
The social housing provider who made the final reasonable offer will determine whether they should remove the client from the NSW Housing Register.
If a client does not respond to an offer
The social housing provider who attempted to make the offer will treat the offer as reasonable and record the offer as rejected. The offer will count towards the number of offers the client is entitled to receive.
If a client does not respond to their final offer, this offer will also be treated as reasonable and the client’s application will be closed.
Removing a client from the NSW Housing Register
A social housing provider may remove a client’s application from the NSW Housing Register if the client:
- Rejects two reasonable offers of social housing
- Rejects one reasonable offer of emergency temporary accommodation (public housing only)
- Repeatedly fails to respond to attempts to contact them for the purpose of updating information or making an offer of housing
- Rejects their second offer because of the type and length of lease offered (for public housing only)
- Accepted an offer of social housing but did not sign the tenancy agreement
- No longer meets social housing eligibility criteria
- Does not acknowledge a debt owing to Housing NSW and does not agree to make regular repayments prior to any offer of housing and continuing until they have repaid the debt in full.
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4. Legislation and compliance
Housing providers will match and offer properties in accordance with the provisions of the:
- Housing Act 2001
- Anti-Discrimination Act 1977
- Disability Discrimination Act 1992
- Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000
5. Related documentation
6. Further information
Appeals and review of decisions
If a client disagrees with a decision a social housing provider has made, they should first discuss their concerns with a staff member from the provider that made the decision. The next step, if they still believe the social housing provider made the wrong decision, is to ask for a formal review of the decision. For information on how reviews work, the client can ask the housing provider for a copy of the fact sheet Appeals and Reviewing Decisions, or read the Client Service Delivery and Appeals Policy. This policy applies, in general, to public, community and Aboriginal housing. The provider that made the decision will manage the appeal.
Clients may not appeal the following decisions:
- Non-selection by a social housing provider for an offer of social housing
- Removal of their application from the NSW Housing Register once an offer of social housing has been accepted.
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