Hi {{first_name | there}},

If you have lived in Broxbourne long enough, you already know. You have seen the pressure on streets, on schools, on neighbour conversations. You may have felt it yourself - a notice from a landlord, an ageing parent who needs to be closer, a family growing faster than the walls around it.

I read the 2026 Housing Allocations Policy so you do not have to. All 34 pages of it. Having said that, I’d advice you to make time to read the full details - very important. What follows are the parts that matter - the rules that decide who gets a social home in this borough and who does not, why the queue exists, and why some people who genuinely need help will not qualify. It is not a comfortable read. But it is one worth having.

Let us get into it.

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The Borough of Broxbourne quietly published its Housing Allocations Policy 2026 earlier this year. It was approved by councillors and is now in force. Most residents will never read it. That is a problem, because whether you are on the housing register, caring for ageing parents, a care leaver, a veteran, or simply a working family who cannot afford to buy, this document shapes whether the council will help you - and if so, how.

Let us start with the numbers on the ground.

The average house price in Broxbourne was £411,000 in April 2026. The average monthly private rent stands at around £1,634. Set that against the national median income of just over £35,000 and you begin to see the problem. Buying is out of reach for the majority of working households in Cheshunt, Hoddesdon and Waltham Cross. Renting in the private market consumes more than half a typical take-home salary before food, bills or childcare. The number of applicants on the Housing Register exceeds the supply of social housing in the Borough - and the council's own website tells homeless households to search Rightmove and Zoopla rather than expect a social home.

Against that backdrop, Broxbourne allocates approximately 200 social lettings per year. Two hundred homes. For a borough of roughly 99,000 people, in a county where housing costs have outpaced wages for a decade. As of March 2026, 180 households are in temporary accommodation - families in limbo, often in expensive B&Bs or hostels, costing the council more than a settled tenancy would.

So what does the new policy actually do?

To join the Housing Register, you must have lived continuously in Broxbourne for five years. This is not new, but it is worth examining plainly. If you moved to Cheshunt three years ago, work locally, pay your taxes here and your private landlord has just served notice, you cannot join the register. You are on your own. The council's own website acknowledges this directly, directing people in that position to find private rented accommodation themselves.

The policy does carve out exceptions: veterans and serving Armed Forces personnel are exempt from the five-year rule, as are domestic abuse survivors fleeing violence, care leavers aged 16 to 24, and people placed in temporary accommodation by Broxbourne itself. These are welcome protections. But the baseline rule remains one of the most restrictive local connection thresholds in England.

Once you qualify, priority is determined by a points system. Homeless households accepted by the council receive 100 points. Medical need ranges from 50 points for a moderate condition to 200 for extreme circumstances. Overcrowding - defined as lacking rooms relative to household entitlement - earns between 25 and 200 points. Domestic abuse survivors and those separated from family by lack of housing receive 25 points each.

What the policy does not tell you is how long those points translate into a realistic wait. With approximately 200 lettings per year across home seekers and transfers, even applicants with significant need can wait years. The council explicitly states it cannot tell applicants how long it will take to rehouse them. That is not evasion, it is the honest arithmetic of a borough where demand vastly outstrips supply.

The 2026 policy was approved by Broxbourne councillors and is now in force. Everyone on the current Housing Register will have been notified about how it affects their application. The 2026 policy introduces clearer guidance on intentionally worsened circumstances (you cannot engineer your way up the register by making yourself more homeless), tightens the rules on criminal disclosure, and formalises the rights of Right to Move applicants - council and housing association tenants living more than 40 miles from a Broxbourne job who need to relocate for work.

Up to 30% of lettings are ringfenced for households in work or making a community contribution, which includes foster carers, retained firefighters, police special constables and reservists. On one hand, this rewards contribution. On the other, it means a family in severe overcrowding with no employment points can be bypassed by a working household with fewer housing needs.

Councillor Corina Gander, Leader of Broxbourne Council, has spoken about the borough's housing ambitions. The Local Plan aims to provide around 7,700 homes by 2033, including a major development at Brookfield Garden Village with approximately 1,250 new homes. The council holds approximately £3.3 million in Section 106 funds - developer contributions that housing associations can bid to use for new affordable homes.

But here is what the allocations policy cannot resolve on its own: supply. A policy that governs how 200 homes per year are distributed is the right document for a borough with 200 homes per year to give. It is not the right answer to a housing crisis. The policy is well-structured and largely fair within its own logic. The question Broxbourne residents deserve an answer to is not "how is social housing allocated?" but "when will there be enough of it?"

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If you are on the register, log into HomeOption and review your application - failure to complete your annual review removes you automatically. If your circumstances have changed (a medical diagnosis, a new child, a change of address), update your record immediately - it affects your points. If you believe your points are wrong, you have 21 days from the decision to request a written review. If you have been refused a place on the register or removed from it, you have the right to challenge that decision. Contact the Housing Advice Service at Bishops College, Churchgate, Cheshunt, EN8 9XS, or visit broxbourne.gov.uk.

The full 2026 Housing Allocations Policy is available at broxbourne.gov.uk and on the HomeOption website at homeoption.org.

If you have any questions about the issues highlighted above, please reply this email or contact us via email - [email protected]

Broxtown Weekly is Hertstown Media's newsletter for Broxbourne Borough. Sources: Broxbourne Borough Council Housing Allocations Policy 2026; ONS House Price Index April 2026; Broxbourne Council April 2026 Council meeting statements; HomeOption.org; Broxbourne Council Housing and Homelessness guidance page.

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Cheers,
Editor-in-chief | Emeka Ogbonnaya

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