In September 2020, we took the decision to temporarily freeze the HomeHunt accounts for existing Gentoo tenants who were not registered with a priority housing need.
We are pleased to announce that from Friday 1 October 2021, we are lifting the temporary freeze. All existing tenants will be reinstated to the HomeHunt system and their original date of registration will be unaffected.
The temporary suspension allowed us to support Sunderland City Council in its statutory duty to rehouse those most in need, by continuing to reduce the current waiting list and helping to provide a home to those who have been nominated by the City Council with a priority housing need.
During the freeze, we allocated 1874 of our properties to new tenants on our waiting list. We also completed 386 priority moves for existing Gentoo tenants who were registered with a priority housing need.
We recently consulted with tenants on our current Allocations Policy and Suspension Policy and made some key changes. The following changes came into effect from June 2021:
- Existing Gentoo tenants cannot apply for rehousing within the first two years of their tenancy, unless there is a priority need for housing
- Where a Gentoo tenant has a child or children and is living in a flat or apartment with an internal communal area, they may be awarded priority banding
- Where an applicant continually bids for property, and fails to attend viewings or contact Gentoo, the applicant will be suspended for a period of 12 weeks
The HomeHunt advertising cycle will remain the same during this period, with new properties becoming available at 2pm each Wednesday.
If you have any questions on our allocations process, or your HomeHunt account, please contact your Neighbourhood Coordinator. Their details can be found here.
