How we allocate council housing

We cannot offer a council home to most people who apply and this is likely to get worse. We allocate points for housing based on your current circumstances and only those with a large amount of points can bid for council housing.  

Last year we let only 1,072 properties, housing around six per cent of the over 16,000 households on our housing register. Less than half of these properties had more than one bedroom.

Most council properties in Islington are allocated to families in greatest need who have lived in Islington for five or more years, and include:

• council tenants who are living in homes bigger than they need, and by downsizing it frees up a bigger home for others
• council tenants who need to move so that we can renovate their home
• residents who social services have told us need to be housed
• residents who have a life-threatening or serious medical condition made worse by their current housing
• residents who are in severely overcrowded housing need an extra two or more bedrooms)
• homeless households where we have a duty to house them and who we have been unable to find a home in the private rented sector.
  

How we assess your need

When you apply to be on the council housing register, we assess your application based on the information you have given us. We give you points, based on your current circumstances. We will let you know, how many points you have and why they have been given.

If we give you more than 120 points, we will send you details of how to show your interest in a property (bid) on our Home Connections website. 

Average number of points from successful applications for properties in 2023/24

This is a list of the average number of points held by successful applicants when we allocated different sizes of properties in 2023/24. This is not the amount of points you need for each property size to be allocated a home.

• Studio = 191 points
• 1 bedroom = 237 points
• 2 bedrooms = 279 points
• 3 bedrooms = 266 points
• 4 or more bedrooms = 413 points.

What you get points for

• Moving somewhere with fewer bedrooms - We give points for each bedroom that you don't need in your current home.
• Urgent welfare needs - For example, if you:
  • are responsible for a child who is at threat of being taken into local authority care
  • are experiencing domestic violence
  • need to move to provide or receive support from a family member.
• Overcrowding - We give points for:
  • each extra bedroom you need for your household
  • where males and females have to share a bedroom and one is aged 10 years or older (unless they are either 16 or older and living as a couple)
  • if you are severely overcrowded because you need two or more additional bedrooms.
• Medical - If you have a serious or life-threatening medical condition that is made worse by your housing situation. We will ask you to fill in a medical form and the Housing Medical Officer will assess you.
• Resident status - If you are a resident of Islington when you apply and you have lived in Islington for at least three of the last five years.
• Waiting time - All applicants will get five per cent of their total housing needs points, not including residence and waiting time points, for each complete year from the date you first got housing needs points. For homeless applicants this will be for each complete year from the date of issue of the S184 decision.
• Threat of homelessness - If you have been given a valid notice to quit by your current landlord and are threatened with homelessness.
• Shared or lack of facilities - If you share two or more of these facilities with people not on your application:
  • cooking facilities
  • bathroom
  • toilet
  • cold water supply.

For more on how many points we give and about the local lettings policy for new housing, read our Housing allocation scheme 2024.