Housing report 2023
Letting homes
The number of applicants for council homes in Gateshead continued to grow in 2023/24, and reached a total of 14,465 by the end of March 2024. This is an increase from 13,774 in the previous year.
In 2023/24 we focussed on getting more empty homes repaired and ready to be offered to new tenants. By 31 March 2024 there were 618 vacant properties compared with 571 at end of 2022/23. Of these, 229 were available for letting - a higher number than in 2022/23.
A total of 1,230 council homes were let, with 1,150 of these available for applicants on the Gateshead Home Choice. The remaining 80 were let to agencies or were temporary lets to other council services, such as the repair service or investment team.
During 2023/24 we worked with tenants to review and improve the housing application form to make it more straightforward to complete. This year we will continue to work with you to improve the lettings process to make sure that it is simpler to access, and you have the information you need when applying for housing, and bidding for a new home. We will also continue to work on speeding up the process so that empty homes are repaired quicker and new tenants can move into their home quicker.