Locata web application replaces points-based system in
West London.
Five London boroughs are providing details of vacant council
homes to an online database that acts as a central lettings agency
for most of West London.
The London boroughs of Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon and
Hounslow are channelling all their vacant residential properties
through an independently managed web application called Locata.
Because all five boroughs use the same system to award council
homes to prospective tenants, it means that people searching for
social housing in West London have to check one system rather than
five.
Locata holds details of 63,000 applicants for social housing and
more than 56,000 properties. The properties on the database include
all those offered by three registered social landlords that have
also joined the scheme.
Every fortnight about 250 properties are marked for advertising
by the eight different bodies. The eight, who call themselves the
West London Alliance, publish the adverts in a full-colour
fortnightly magazine. More than 25,000 copies of the magazine are
distributed to more than 120 outlets across the West London
boroughs.
People who have already been accepted for social housing can
apply for the properties by post, internet, SMS, face-to-face or by
telephoning a 24-hour automated phone system.
All the "bids" are collected by Locata and processed within two
hours of the closing deadline.
Locata was originally paid for by a central government grant of
£1.1m, which was awarded to test choice-based letting as a
replacement for the points-based system that had been used by all
councils previously.
West London Alliance said, "The choice-based lettings scheme
exchanged the existing points-based system for one where properties
are advertised and customers choose them based on their own
particular situation."
Since Locata was set up, West London Alliance has surveyed the
people bidding for properties.
Some 3,150 people out of 10,500 completed the survey - a 30%
response rate. The proportion of people responding from ethnic
groups identified as being vulnerable was even higher, at 44%.
The main finding was that more people were satisfied with the
new service than the system it replaced. Some 69% of respondents
said they were satisfied with the service.
Of those who bid for properties by text or telephone, 76% said
they had used all the different channels to put their bids in.
West London Alliance is now building an interface with several
of the London boroughs' customer relationship management
applications. A self-service online assessment form is also being
drafted.
Alongside the social housing system, a facility is being built
within Locata for private landlords to advertise properties.