You must complete a housing application form to let us know you want to be considered for housing for older people. This form is available at any of our local housing offices. Please contact them by phone or email. Alternatively, you can download a copy.

To make the best use of all our older person's housing stock we have created one specialist older person's housing policy. We use a combination of the mainstream allocation policy pointing framework and an older person’s support needs assessment to do this.

When we are allocating an older person's house type we will match applicants for the different types of older person's housing according to their support needs. To determine your level of support need we will contact you to complete a health and housing support needs assessment. This will tell us about your needs of your daily living, housing and support needs.

Once this assessment has been completed we will then be able to put your application for rehousing into one of the following categories:

• high support needs
• medium support needs
• low support needs

Once this assessment has been completed we will place you on the waiting list for the types of housing that you qualify for. For example, Retirement or Amenity Older Person's type housing.

The support needs group in which you will be placed on will be determined by the type and level of support you require. For example:

• An applicant who requires some daily support to live independently, and has very limited social contact would be placed in the high support needs group. Applicants assessed as having high support needs would be prioritised for retirement housing.
• Applicants who require some support to live independently but not as intensive or frequent as the daily support would be placed in the medium support needs group. Applicants assessed as having medium support needs would be prioritised for retirement housing.
• Applicants who do not require support but require a move to a more accessible house would be placed into the low support needs group. Applicants assessed as having low support needs would be prioritised for amenity housing for older people.

You may also be listed for any other suitable house type such as amenity general housing or any mainstream house types if you wish. These house types will be allocated based on the main allocation policy rules.

There may be occasions where we have limited or no availability for the house types you have been assessed for within areas your prefer. In these circumstances our housing staff will discuss what other older person's housing options are available with you.