Assessing your housing need

Medical or welfare priority may be awarded where your current housing is negatively affecting your health or wellbeing, or that of a member of your household, and moving to a different home would help to improve this.

Below are examples of circumstances where priority may be given.

Band A – urgent medical or welfare needs

• you have a life‑threatening illness that is being made worse by your housing conditions
• you are housebound due to stairs or steps, for example if you are a wheelchair user
• you need specially adapted accommodation that your current home does not provide
• you cannot be discharged from hospital until suitable alternative accommodation is available.

Band C – medical or welfare needs, including disability‑related needs

• severe mental health conditions that are adversely affected by your current accommodation
• older people with moderate to severe arthritis that significantly affects mobility, particularly where the home has stairs or is in a steep location
• medical conditions requiring ongoing treatment that are being seriously worsened by housing conditions, such as severe asthma
• conditions causing reduced mobility (for example breathlessness or dizziness), especially where there are stairs or the property is unsuitable or poorly located.

If you tell us on your application form that your health or disability is being seriously affected by your current housing, we may ask you to complete a medical self‑assessment form. This allows you to explain how your health is impacted by your home.

You can also provide supporting evidence, such as information from a medical professional. In some cases, we may arrange a home visit to better understand how your housing situation affects your health.

Please be aware that even if supporting evidence shows a move would help your health, we will decide the level of priority you are given in line with the housing allocations scheme.

The Kent Agency Assessment (KAA) allows health or social care professionals, and their agents, to refer someone to the council for help finding suitable housing where there is a housing‑related health or support need.

A KAA should be used when a person needs to move because their current housing cannot meet their health or support needs, or where those needs are being made worse by their accommodation. The form provides all the supporting information required to assess an applicant’s housing needs.

If more than one KAA is received per household, the band will only be awarded against the KAA providing the highest priority.

Applicants will be informed in writing of the priority they have been given and the type of housing considered suitable for their needs.

• Make a Kent Agency Assessment referral (opens in new tab)

When we check if your home is overcrowded, we look at the number of bedrooms and how many bedspaces each room can reasonably provide.

Bedspaces refer to the number of beds that can be reasonably accommodated in each room.

For assessment purposes, the following household members each need:

• a couple – one bedroom (two bedspaces)
• anyone aged 16 or over – one bedroom (one bedspace)
• two children of the same sex under 16 – one bedroom (two bedspaces)
• two children of opposite sex under 10 – one bedroom (two bedspaces)
• two children of opposite sex where one is 10 or over – separate bedrooms (one bedspace each)
• a child under 16 who cannot share under the rules above – one bedroom (one bedspace)

Guide to property size

We reserve the right to determine the size of housing accommodation according to family size and housing need in view of the shortage of social housing in the district. The number of homes that become empty each year is far less than the number of applications we receive.

For this reason the following is a guide to the type of property we will consider suitable:

If you are a member of the Armed Forces, your waiting time priority is based on your total length of military service (cumulative), rather than just time you have spent on the housing register. This may give you a higher priority than applicants in similar circumstances who have not served in the Armed Forces.

You will need to provide evidence of when your military service started at the time you register.

If you currently live in Armed Forces accommodation, your application will usually be suspended until three months before the end of your service. At that point, you will need to provide details of your financial resources.

Due to the shortage of social housing and to make best use of all available stock, we may sometimes restrict certain properties to specific groups of applicants. This helps ensure homes are used effectively and allows us to meet our housing duties, including achieving a balance of lettings. This will be made clear in the advertisement for the property.

Adapted and accessible homes

There are limited numbers of purpose‑built and adapted homes for people with disabilities. If you need this type of housing you will be considered for suitable properties, such as homes with level access, based on medical priority.

Priority within the same band

Where applicants have the same priority band, we will consider how urgent each person’s housing need is. For example, if two applicants have the same band and waiting time, the applicant at greater risk of losing their current home may be given priority.

Multiple needs

Having more than one housing need does not increase priority. In each case, the most urgent housing need will apply, and you will be placed in the band most suitable for your needs.

Houses with gardens

Unadapted houses with gardens are prioritised for families with children aged 13 and under at the date of offer. Applicants without children aged 13 or under will not be considered for these properties. This ensures private gardens are mainly offered to families with young children, so they have a safe place to play. Normal allocation criteria will apply when deciding which eligible household is offered a property.

Shared care of children

In cases where parents live separately, only the parent who receives Child Benefit is considered to have the child or children as part of their household for housing purposes.

A Court Order allowing access or shared access between separated parents does not mean we must consider the child is part of an applicant’s household for the purposes of a housing register application.

Larger families

Four and five‑bedroom homes are very limited, therefore priority for three‑bedroom homes with two living rooms (parlour‑type properties) will be given to larger families, to ensure best use is made of the available stock.

Our housing allocations policy does not cover every eventuality and in special cases where there are exceptional needs, the Head of Housing has discretionary power to award additional priority and approve offers of housing, sometimes outside of choice based lettings.