Overcrowding

What happens at the moment? - Priority or preference is given to those living in overcrowded conditions.

Overcrowding means that you have more people living within your home than we would normally expect, based on the number of bedrooms that you have. The size of property you need depends on your household and we will consider the following:

• Are there 3 or more sharing a bedroom?
• Is a parent sharing with a child?
• Is there a person over 8 years old sharing with the opposite sex?
• Is there a person over 13 years old sharing with the same sex?
• Are there any children sharing with step siblings?

This information is used to calculate how many overcrowding points you are entitled to.

At the moment, we award 25 points for each extra room needed and if you have 2 or more overcrowding factors, applicants are awarded an extra 10 points.

Question 1.1

For children sharing with a brother or sister of the opposite sex - do you think the age of the children should be increased from aged 8 to aged 10 (the same criteria used for Universal Credit) when working out overcrowding points?

See result of this survey question

Question 1.2

For children sharing with a brother or sister of the same sex – do you think the age of the children should be increased from aged 13 to aged 16 (the same criteria for Universal Credit) when working out overcrowding points?

See result of this survey question