Just a brief note, partly about Barnet’s Allocation policy and partly about the surprising way that things can develop from a blog post.
In September 2014, I noted that Barnet’s proposed changes to its allocation policy had the effect of excluding domestic violence victims from any priority for social housing, where that had had the highest priority.
This was picked up by Barnet and Whetstone Press, who did an article after calling for a chat and a quote.
From there, the new Barnet Councillor and generally excellent Reema Patel (@ReemaSPatel on twitter) picked it up – and tirelessly ran with it, through a petition, media, questions in council and making sure the Labour group pursued the issue. (Disclaimer, Reema and I had a chat about the operation of the proposals and what an alternative might look like).
And now Reema’s dedicated work has paid off – Barnet council is to re-draft the proposed changes to the allocation policy to ensure DV victims retain band 1 priority. This is a good thing (and possibly Barnet avoiding being unlawful) , and I’m delighted the blog played a small part in it. As an illustration of the way things can work in the social media age, it is small but encouraging.