East Lothian Council will do more to make sure that tenants with health or mobility issues have better access to the county's most accessible homes.

The recommendation was approved at a meeting of the Cabinet yesterday and follow a review of the Council's housing allocations policy.

The Council introduced its new allocations policy in July 2007 to reflect best practice for tenants and meet its legal obligations. Under the new policy, 'waiting time points' were removed in favour of a new groups and points system. The new system awards points to applicants based on their housing needs, such as insecurity of tenure or the impact of housing on their health and wellbeing. An annual review is carried out for all applicants to make sure that the information held on their housing needs are up-to-date.

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A public consultation of the allocations policy took place between August and October 2008. Accessible housing emerged as a key theme during the review. The overview group agreed that the Council should work to increase awareness of amenity housing and housing options for applicants with health or mobility issues, and also consider building more such houses in any new developments. It was also agreed that the Council should work towards reducing the age limit for amenity housing applications to people aged 55 years and older. In the meantime the current policy allows the consideration of those aged less than 60 who would benefit from the features of the accommodation where there is no demand.

East Lothian Council's Cabinet member for Housing and Community Services Councillor Stuart Currie explained: "Legally, we are not allowed to ring-fence ground floor housing for one particular applicant group. This could lead to ground floor houses lying empty while applicants in desperate housing situations struggle to find a home.

"Amenity housing can be a more appropriate solution and the review has discovered that this accessible accommodation is not being used to its full potential to help our tenants most in need."

The review also considered the importance of transfer incentives to create a positive chain of vacancies. An example could be an older couple who choose to downsize their larger Council property to a more manageable home.

(GK/JM)