Haringey Council loses 14,600 households from the council housing waiting list

In a quiet re-registration exercise, Haringey Council has removed 14,687 households from its council housing waiting list, 58.9% of the total. This is likely to include many local people in severe housing need.

A reply to a question lodged under the Freedom of Information Act has revealed that the council carried out a ‘re-registration project’ in September and October last year, leading to the quiet deletion of 14,687 households from the list.

People on the list were written to and given thirty days to complete and return a re-registration form. Those who did not return the forms were struck off the list.

‘14,600 households is the size of a small town’, said Paul Burnham. ‘This was a de-registration project and not a re-registration project. The council should do some work to stay in contact with people on the list, and not just delete huge numbers like this’.
‘This has been a cynical attempt to exclude people from their rights to decent, secure and affordable local housing. People in housing need deserve our support and help, and not this shabby treatment’.
‘We are asking Haringey Council eight questions about the deletions from the Register’, he said. ‘In the meantime, we encourage all who think they would benefit from council or housing association housing to register with Housing Needs at Haringey’s Customer Service Centre at 48 Station Road, Wood Green. Their telephone number is 020 8489 4309.’
EIGHT QUESTIONS FOR HARINGEY COUNCIL

What steps were taken to re-register applicants periodically in past years?
Were reminders circulated to applicants to ensure the Council had their current addresses and contact details?
Do Haringey Council agree that people in housing need move house frequently, that they are a ‘hard to reach’ group, and that writing to applicants at a previous address is not an appropriate method of communication?
Were reminders sent to those who did not respond to the ‘re-registration’ exercise last year?
Were additional efforts made to contact these applicants by phone or email?
Does Haringey Council owe any duty of care to those who have been deleted from the housing register under the re-registration scheme?
Will Haringey Council now reopen the list to those deleted families that are still in housing need?
Will they begin a high–level advertising campaign, as with the current Choice Based Lettings campaign, to invite these deleted families to re-register on the list?

More from
Paul Burnham
Haringey Defend Council Housing
020 8888 7836
07847 714 158

Shelter (homelessness campaign group and charity)
0845 458 4590

Cllr Isidoros Diakides (Executive Member for Housing, Haringey Council)
020 8340 8477 / 07971 804 676

This message, accompanied by a useful graph showing the strange rise and fall of the numbers on the borough's housing list, has been press released widely, and the story has already been picked up by one national newspaper.

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Haringey Defend Council Housing

next meets on Tuesday 18th September,
7.30pm, Wood Green Labour Club, Stuart Crescent, N22.
all welcome - come and join the discussion

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