LOCAL people needing help to get an affordable home are being encouraged to sign up to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s new housing list.

A new simpler, clearer way of allocating homes to local people in need is being introduced by the borough council this year and those people on the current housing register are being reminded that they need to reapply to stay on the list.

All 8,000 applicants currently on the register have been contacted and, under the new criteria, those who are most in need and have a local connection will be able to reapply for the scheme that decides who will be nominated for social housing properties in the borough.

People have until August 1 to fill in their renewal forms otherwise they will be automatically removed from the list.

Advice and support is available to applicants who have queries or need help in completing the form.

The new housing list will be in place by October and help, advice and alternative housing options will also be made available to those people who are removed from the list through the council’s new online advice tool Housing Options Online.

Cabinet member for housing and regeneration, Councillor Terri Reid, said: “The current scheme is confusing and doesn’t give people a clear idea of their chances of getting a home based on their housing need. This scheme is fairer and simpler, giving priority to those people who are local and most in need of housing.

“It is very important that those applicants who meet the new criteria and want to be considered for the housing register fill in and return their renewal form or they will be removed from the list.”

Work to review the council’s current policy began in 2012 to address concerns about fairness and complexity and meet new national guidelines.

As a result, the new scheme includes only allowing people in housing need with a local connection to join the register, stopping home owners and people with a household income of over £50,000 per annum or savings or assets of over £30,000 from applying apart from in exceptional cases and the introduction of a simplified and date ordered three-band system with the highest priority going to cases with an urgent need to move.