Elected Member Briefing - Local demand for social housing

About this Briefing Note

Report by: Elaine Ritchie, Strategic Lead, Housing and Communities

EMBN Number: 141-25 

Date: 29 October 2025 

Subject: Local demand for social housing

Details

Purpose

The purpose of this briefing is to provide an overview on the current demand level for social housing in Perth and Kinross.

Briefing Information

We have a Common Housing Register in Perth and Kinross which provides a single access pathway to social rented housing provided by Perth & Kinross Council, Caledonia, Hillcrest and Kingdom Housing Associations. Collectively, these landlords offer around 12,000 homes for rent.

The Common Housing Register is managed by the Council's Housing Options Team on behalf of the other landlord partners, and a Common Allocations Policy is adopted by all partners to ensure that applications are assessed and vacancies are allocated using a single set of rules.

There is a high demand for social rented housing in Perth and Kinross. There are currently around 3,200 applicants on the Common Housing Register and on average, there are around 1,000 vacancies allocated each year across the 4 landlord partners.

We are currently receiving an average of 230 new Common Housing Register applications each month, with a slightly smaller number of applications being closed each month. The main reasons for applications being closed are when the applicant is rehoused or if they don't respond to an annual review of their application.

Lettings Areas

Lettings areas are locations or groups of locations Common Housing Register applicants can select to indicate where they would like to live. These are detailed on page 18 of the Common Housing Register application form. Applicants can select as many lettings areas as they wish.

How does the waiting list work?

Applicants are assigned to one of four groups depending on their circumstances. The groups are Homeless, Strategic Need, Transfer and Applicants. The table below provides an explanation of each group and the number of applicants currently assigned to that group:

Applicants are then awarded points based on their specific housing needs. The main reasons that points are awarded are for overcrowding, under-occupation or medical needs.

Applicants are assigned to waiting lists based on the size of property they require and the lettings areas they have selected. The number of points awarded will determine their position on the waiting-list.

What proportion of properties are allocated to each group?

The Common Allocations Policy outlines letting target for each group. These are outlined below based on a percentage of all allocations but they are indicative so there is flexibility to deviate from these as required.

Allocation Group Indicative Letting Target (% of all allocations)

• Homeless 50%
• Strategic Need 10%
• Transfers 24%
• Applicants 16%

Waiting-list positions and average waiting times

We do not award points simply for the length of time an application has been on the list, so a new application that is assessed with priority will go ahead of a longstanding application with no priority on the waiting-list.

We are often asked how long applicants will wait on average for an offer of housing. This is not something we can answer in a meaningful way because there's no such thing as an 'average' applicant. The length of time an applicant will wait depends on their level of housing need, the type and size of property they need, and the area they want to live in. Applicants who have no assessed housing need may never receive an offer of housing through the Common Housing Register.

Demand and Turnover - Housing Market Areas

In our Local Housing Strategy, data is presented by Housing Market Area (HMA). These five areas are larger than individual lettings areas and represent distinct areas that are typically seen as housing markets in their own right within the broader local authority area.

The table below shows the number of applicants in each of the Allocation groups who have identified their area of preference as being within a particular HMA. Some applicants will select areas in multiple HMA's resulting in double counting, but the intention with this table is to show the relative popularity of each HMA and the relationship between demand and supply.

Some of the key points from the table above are:

• Greater Perth, which includes Perth City, is the most popular area, and also has the highest housing stock and vacancy rates. The data shows that the vacancy rate could in theory result in offers of housing for around a third of the people on the waiting-list in a year.
• Highland Perthshire is the most pressured area with a significantly smaller waiting-list but also far fewer vacancies to allocate. The vacancy rate could only theoretically provide offers for 11% of the applicants on the waiting-list.
• The other HMA's have vacancy to applicant ratios of 16-20%.

Of the 3,209 applications, only 1,880 (59%) have been assessed as having a housing need. This means that 41% of applications have no assessed need and no points and are unlikely to be made an offer of housing. This is important as it improves the vacancy to applicant ratio for applicants who do have an assessed housing need.

Demand - Property Sizes

Almost 40% of applicants are asking for a one-bed property, and 40% require a two-bed property. Only 9.58% require a three-bed home, and 2.42% a four-bed property.

How many applicants are currently on the waiting list(s)?

The table below outlines the number of applicants on the waiting-list for each lettings area and property size on 15 October 2025.

It is important to note that there are currently 3,209 unique applicants on the Common Housing Register. However, applicants can select multiple areas of choice, so for example if an applicant has selected every area, they will appear in the total for each of the areas in the table below.

Conclusion

Perth and Kinross is a popular place to live. The longstanding Common Housing Register provides a single access pathway for people to access 95+% of the available social rented housing in the area, and the outcomes we achieve for people experiencing homelessness are amongst the best in Scotland.

The ongoing housing emergency/crisis means that more people than ever find themselves in a position where their only realistic housing option is social rented housing. This means that it's likely that the waiting-list will continue to grow in size, but the Common Allocations Policy and Home First response to homelessness will continue to ensure we are effectively focussing on the applicants with the greatest level of housing need.