FOI request (FOIR-766047195)

Under-Occupied Council Housing and Support for Downsizing

Requested Mon 17 November 2025
Responded Wed 26 November 2025

I am writing as a local resident and community nurse. I have worked in different boroughs in London. I would like to raise a concern that I believe is affecting both older tenants and the growing number of young families on the housing waiting list.

Through my work, I have visited many council tenants who were allocated their homes 15 to 45 years ago, often when they had young families. Many of these individuals now live alone, or as older couples, in properties that are much larger than they currently need, including two and three-bedroom houses or flats. Their children have long since moved out, and in some cases have been allocated their own council properties.

I have personally met more than 40 individuals living alone in three-bedroom homes who regularly express that their properties are now too large for them to manage. Many of them would welcome the opportunity to downsize to a one-bedroom property that better suits their needs, especially as they get older.

At the same time, young families in our community face long waits for appropriate housing. It seems there is a significant opportunity to support both groups if the council were able to review long-term tenancies and actively offer downsizing options to tenants who under-occupy their homes.

I would like to ask whether the council could:

1. Carry out a review of long-term tenancies (for example, 15–50 years) to identify properties that may now be under-occupied.

2. Expand or promote a downsizing scheme, making it easier and more attractive for older tenants to move to smaller, more manageable homes.

3. Free up larger family homes, thereby helping young families on the housing waiting list and making better use of social housing stock.

I believe such an initiative would greatly benefit our community by ensuring homes are allocated according to need while also providing better living arrangements for older residents who feel overwhelmed by larger homes.

Thank you for taking the time to consider the above and roll it across all councils, as at times council residents are relocated to other boroughs due to lack of housing.

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Response

1. The council is a non-stock holding authority with social housing owned and managed by Registered Provider landlords.

The council has nomination rights to vacant properties. We have, however, taken forward discussions with our Registered Providers to explore promoting downsizing and enable chain lettings to make best use of housing stock.

Under-occupiers are awarded the highest priority on the council's Housing Register for social housing and therefore we would encourage all those seeking to downsize to apply to the council for assessment:

https://www.hastings.gov.uk/housing/social_housing/sussex_homemove/

2. This is something that we would encourage and will explore.

3. As above.