General Needs Housing
Council Housing for waiting list applicants
- As at March 2011, the Shetland Islands Council has a total housing stock of just under 1,900. This figure includes properties on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) as well as those on the General Fund (Non-HRA). Within this, there are approximately 1445 general needs properties, 300 sheltered or very sheltered properties (where the tenants receive housing support) and the remaining properties are used for other purposes such as decant accommodation during refurbishments and temporary accommodation for homeless households.
- Over the last 3 years, the Council's general needs housing stock reduced by an average of 26 properties a year sold to tenants under the right to buy legislation. The number of properties sold under this legislaton each year is reducing.
- The Council remains the biggest provider of social rented housing in Shetland. Its stock is well distributed throughout the islands and just over half is in Lerwick.
- The location of general needs properties in Shetland and the size of these properties as at 31 March 2011 are detailed in Table A.
Number and Type of Applicants
At June 2011 the total number of applicants on the Council's housing register was as follows:
| Homeless | 91 |
| Transfer | 215 |
| Waiting List | 580 |
| Total | 886 |
Applicants can choose any number of 'Areas of choice' available. The number of applications for each area of choice and the size of property required by applicants as at June 2011 are detailed in Table B.
An applicant's chance of being offered a Council property is influenced by:
- How often a vacancy occurs in any one of the applicant's areas of choice.
- The number of points the application has been awarded.
- The position this places the applicant on the waiting list for that area of choice, in comparison with other applicants.
There are differing demands for housing, in some areas there is a lengthy waiting list with few properties being allocated, whilst in other areas the availability of housing is greater so applicants are likely to be housed more quickly.
An indication of the availability of general needs housing in each of the areas can be obtained from Table C which shows the number of Council properties in each area, the number of times a re-let has occurred in the last year and the numbers of people presently on the waiting list for that area.
The stock turnover by area gives details of number of properties that have become available for relet in each allocation area during 2008/2009, 2009/2010 and 2010/2011. For further information, please click on the year you are interested in - 2008/2009, 2009/2010 and 2010/2011.