How was the present system created?
In 2004 Ekopia conducted a housing survey and this led on to various systems of housing support being developed for Soillse & Station House Co-operative over the next five years. Our first ‘Allocations Policy’ for affordable housing was created in 2007. The system was reviewed by the community between February and April 2012, when the present system as described below was created.
When East Whins was being constructed Moray Council’s housing manager reached an agreement with Duneland for the affordable homes being built there that allowed us to use our own allocations policy to find tenants. The Council did however stipulate that any changes to this Allocations Policy would require their approval – a situation that remains in place to this day. To date they have not objected to any changes we wanted to make.
Who is eligible to apply for affordable housing?
The Allocations Policy states:
“Awards of support from the Land & Housing Trust shall be made according to the following criteria.
Length of service to the community
This shall be measured by years of employment with or continuous part-time service (including paid self-employed status or recognised voluntary service) to any organisation affiliated with the Ecovillage project. In the case of individuals aged 65 or over, a prior demonstration of committed work shall be an acceptable criterion. Whether or not any given organisation has such an affiliation shall be determined by the Land & Housing Trust Committee from time to time.
For those not currently or historically connected to the community then being willing to demonstrate a commitment to the ethos of and being in service to the community upon taking up a tenancy shall be considered.
Financial Circumstances
Candidates are expected to make a full disclosure of their financial circumstances (such information to be held in confidence). The Committee shall take cognisance of the following criteria (the calculations for which appear in Appendix A and which shall be updated as required). This currently excludes those whose gross household income is:
• more than £29,500 for a single adult household.
• more than £37,500 for a 2 or more adult household.”
It also states:
“The following are criteria which shall disqualify any applicant.
1) One who is, or who has been in the 12 months prior to their application, a member of the Land & Housing Trust Committee. Where the Committee are advised of the development/rental schedule with less than 12 months notice, any Committee member wishing to apply shall immediately resign from the Committee.
2) One who is not or has never been resident in the counties of Moray and Nairn for at least six months.”
At the discretion of the Landlord, some candidates may be excluded if they have “a demonstrable history of unacceptable behaviour.”
The whole policy document is available on the Ekopia website:
How are the financial criteria determined?
We use an inflation indexed Scottish Government guideline. We would be at liberty to propose a change to the system although the Council would be concerned if we wanted something that was not broadly in line with their own housing needs assessments for the area.
How do people apply?
Each housing support policy also comes with a detailed application form specific to the relevant property. Candidates then fill out this application form and return it to the landlord concerned along with references etc.
When applications are submitted how are they assessed?
This has evolved as a two part process for the majority of assessments (it is a 3 part process where units are designed for people with health and care needs or with mobility issues)
1. Landlord Screening
Applications are initially screened by the landlord, who assesses financial circumstances, past tenancy history and references. Applicants who pass this screening are passed onto the next stage of assessment.
2. Land and Housing Trust Assessment
A group, known as the Land and Housing Trust committee, is responsible for making decisions about affordable housing allocations. (See below for membership of the committee). There are a variety of different kinds of affordable housing available and each different type is described in a separate housing support policy which also describes the specific nature of such support.
3. If required, a health and care needs assessment involving the Community Care Circle.
Associated with the application form there is a scoring sheet that identifies all the relevant criteria. The committee score the applications as individuals. Then the scores are shared at a meeting of the members and, after discussion, a final score is created. This creates a ranked list of candidates.
There is then a process of attunement to decide who the successful applicants are.
Who are the committee members?
The committee is made up of representatives from the Findhorn Foundation, New Findhorn Association and Ekopia, which committee members act independently of those bodies. Each organisation can nominate up to two members to the committee; irrespective of whether they nominate one or two members, each organisation only has one vote (or one score). We don’t publish the names of the committee members. This is not a strictly confidential matter but in the past committee members have been lobbied by applicants or those wishing to support an applicant, which is not appropriate for obvious reasons. This then is the current make-up of the committee. This may change in the future, as the main organisations in the community change over time.
It is true that Foundation employees are over-represented as renters across the Park’s affordable housing?
Foundation employees past and present clearly have made a visible commitment to community life. It is also true that a significant percentage of community members who lived here for a longer period of time have at one point in their lives been FF employees. Furthermore, until quite recently Foundation members made up a significant percentage of all those employed in and by the community at large. Nonetheless we don’t think that Foundation employees make up an unduly high percentage of those allocated affordable accommodation all things considered.
The Foundation only has one vote on the committee (as do Ekopia and NFA). Per the explanation above, the scores are shared across the board and the final result is decided by attunement. If Foundation employees do end up getting a significant share of the accommodation it is then based on a wider perception of their housing need rather than any undue ability of the Foundation as an organisation to influence events.
It is true that young people are at a disadvantage as applicants due to the “length of service” criteria?
The scoring system allows for points to be accumulated based on this so people who have been here a long time do score well in this regard. However, there is also a score for potential future contributions. This is a bit more subjective of course but we don’t think young people are at a disadvantage. In fact, for whatever reasons, relatively few applicants have been in the younger age group and we don’t believe they are under represented relative to the number who have applied.