The Southwark social housing overhaul was formally approved this week as the borough’s Executive agreed a new Housing Allocations Scheme that will fundamentally change how more than 22,000 households compete for council homes. The decision, taken at the cabinet meeting on Tuesday 15 September, replaces the allocation framework that has been in place since 2013 — the first major rewrite of the borough’s social housing distribution rules in more than a decade.
Every household currently on the housing register will be reassessed and migrated into a new five-tier priority system, running from Band A to a newly created Band E. Band A represents the highest urgency, while Band E sits at the bottom and is intended for existing secure council tenants seeking transfers who have no assessed urgent housing need.
The council has said that households in Band E will technically retain the ability to bid for properties through the Choice Based Lettings portal, but has been explicit in its policy documentation that they are “unlikely” to be rehoused because of the severe shortage of available homes.
What the Southwark social housing overhaul changes
The new scheme makes allocation strictly a matter of assessed housing need, dismantling the non-housing-related mechanisms that previously allowed applicants to climb the waiting list. The council’s ‘Priority Stars’ system and its ‘Good Tenant Award’ have been abolished: under the 2026 rules, being in work, volunteering in the community or maintaining a clean tenancy record will no longer earn applicants extra points or preferential ranking within a band.
Simply working within the borough will also cease to be an automatic qualifying criterion for joining the housing register. The council has said safeguards remain for applicants living in private rented housing outside the borough under homelessness duties, so they are not penalised or removed from the register for accepting out-of-borough private accommodation.
One of the most significant changes concerns bedroom standards and overcrowding definitions. Same-sex siblings will now be expected to share a single bedroom until the age of 20; under the 2013 scheme, children of the same sex were entitled to separate bedrooms once they reached 16. The council says the change brings Southwark into line with national bedroom standards and central government guidance, with exemptions granted only where there is documented evidence that a separate bedroom is required on medical or welfare grounds.
Conversely, the most vulnerable applicant groups have been moved to the maximum priority level. Care leavers, eligible armed forces personnel, domestic abuse survivors and households on the Southwark Housing First programme will now automatically be placed in Band A, which the council says will significantly reduce their waiting times for allocations.
Why the council says the changes are needed
Southwark manages around 55,000 council homes, one of the largest social housing stocks in London, but demand dwarfs supply. More than 22,000 households are on the waiting list, including more than 4,200 households in temporary accommodation. Figures discussed at the Executive meeting put the pressure in starker terms: roughly 1,200 properties become available for residents to bid on each year. In the year ending 31 March 2026, only six per cent of households on the register were allocated a social rented home.
The overhaul was also driven by regulatory pressure. The Regulator of Social Housing gave Southwark a C3 grading in November 2024 and was critical of the council’s reliance on an outdated 2013 allocation scheme that did not align with modern national guidelines. The council has committed up to £143,000 to fund temporary administrative capacity to manage the migration of applicants, casework and statutory review requests, and the new scheme will undergo a formal performance review 12 months after implementation.
Addressing the cabinet during the meeting, Cllr Reginald Popoola, Executive Member for Council Homes, said: “This new scheme will give greater priority for council homes to people in some of the most urgent and vulnerable circumstances, from young people leaving care and needing a secure home, to those needing to move to safety because of domestic abuse.”
“We are facing a housing crisis and no allocations scheme can on its own resolve the shortage of affordable housing, or find a council home for everyone who needs one,” he added. “But we will make sure our system is fair, transparent and can command the confidence of residents.”
“After years of inaction and delays by the previous administration, we are pleased to agree this new scheme.” — Cllr Reginald Popoola, Southwark Council
Consultation support — but protests over the changes
The consultation on the proposals, which closed last year, drew 668 online survey submissions. According to the council, more than 60 per cent of respondents supported removing employment as an automatic entry criterion and backed the removal of non-housing priority stars to simplify the system.
Not everyone agrees with the direction. Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth (HASL), the campaign group, held a demonstration outside the town hall on the day of the Executive vote, opposing the raising of the sibling room-sharing age and criticising the consultation process. HASL and the Southwark Law Centre formally submitted objections arguing that vulnerable residents faced barriers to participating meaningfully in the consultation, and that changing definitions of overcrowding does not address the underlying shortage of family-sized council homes.
The council says households affected by the change will be contacted directly about what the new arrangements mean for their cases. The Southwark Housing Allocations Scheme 2026 is due to take effect later this year.
Reporting based on Southwark Council and South London News.
