How we allocate council housing

We cannot offer a council home to most people who apply.

We allocate points for housing based on your situation. You can bid for council housing only if you have a lot of points. 

Last year we let 995 properties, housing less than 6 per cent of over 16,000 households on our housing register. Less than half of these properties had more than one bedroom.

We allocated most council properties in Islington to families in greatest need who have lived in the borough for 5 years or longer. This includes:

• council tenants who move to a smaller home so it frees up the bigger home for others who need it
• council tenants who have to move so that we can update (renovate) their home
• Islington residents who social services tell us need to be housed
• Islington residents who have a life-threatening or serious medical condition made worse by their current housing
• Islington residents who are severely overcrowded and need an extra two or more bedrooms
• homeless households where we have a duty to house them and who we cannot find a home in the private rented sector
  

How we assess your need

When you apply to be on the council housing register, we assess your application based on the information you have given us. We give you points, based on your current circumstances. We will let you know, how many points you have and why they have been given.

If we give you more than 120 points, we will send you details of how to show your interest in a property (bid) on our Home Connections website. 

Average number of points from successful applications for properties in 2024/25

This is a list of the average number of points held by successful applicants when we allocated different sizes of properties in 2024/25. This is not the amount of points you need for each property size to be allocated a home.

• Studio = 192 points
• 1 bedroom = 269 points
• 2 bedrooms = 290 points
• 3 bedrooms = 288 points
• 4 or more bedrooms = 392 points.

What you get points for

• Moving somewhere with fewer bedrooms - We give points for each bedroom that you don't need in your current home.
• Urgent welfare needs - For example, if you:
  • are responsible for a child who is at threat of being taken into local authority care
  • are experiencing domestic violence
  • need to move to provide or receive support from a family member.
• Overcrowding - We give points for:
  • each extra bedroom you need for your household
  • where males and females have to share a bedroom and one is aged 10 years or older (unless they are either 16 or older and living as a couple)
  • if you are severely overcrowded because you need two or more additional bedrooms.
• Medical - If you have a serious or life-threatening medical condition that is made worse by your housing situation. We will ask you to fill in a medical form and the Housing Medical Officer will assess you.
• Resident status - If you are a resident of Islington when you apply and you have lived in Islington for at least the last five years.
• Waiting time - All applicants will get five per cent of their total housing needs points, not including residence and waiting time points, for each complete year from the date you first got housing needs points. For homeless applicants this will be for each complete year from the date of issue of the S184 decision.
• Threat of homelessness - If you have been given a valid notice to quit by your current landlord and are threatened with homelessness.
• Shared or lack of facilities - If you share two or more of these facilities with people not on your application:
  • cooking facilities
  • bathroom
  • toilet
  • cold water supply.

For more on how many points we give and about the local lettings policy for new housing, read our housing allocation scheme policy.

Making a complaint

If you want to make a complaint about our housing allocation scheme, or any other service, read our complaints webpage. You can fill in an online form, call us or find out where to visit one of our customer service hubs.