Social housing survey stats disputed by Fylde Council

Fylde has one of the biggest gaps in the country between social housing applications and available properties, a survey claimed.

Statistics published by the housing charity Shelter have highlighted a huge gap of 5,024 applications to 214 available homes places.

That equates to 23 households in contention for each available property, putting the area in the top 10 nationally when it comes to social housing waiting lists.

But the figures were disputed by Fylde Council, which claims that the statistic for local applicants in the report covers the whole of the Fylde coast rather than just the one authority.

A spokesman said: “The number of applicants on the waiting list detailed in the report reflects households waiting across the Fylde coast, registered with My Home Choice Fylde Coast, covering the whole coast, including Blackpool and Wyre.”

The spokesman said that, as of the March 31, 2017 date in the Shelter report, Fylde Council had 1,241 active applicants registered for rehousing. Of those, 270 were transfer applicants, already socially housed requesting to move.

“During 2016-17, 214 properties became available for re-let, which equates to five households per property and not the quoted 23,” added the spokesman. “If transfer applicants were not counted, this would equate to four per property.”

A Blackpool Council spokesman said: “Our housing team thinks Shelter seem to have a figure around the total number of live applicants for Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre compared it to the number of homes available only in Fylde – the stats are wrong.”