Resources would be focused on those most in need under plans to reshape Worthing council housing policy
Released: Tuesday, 22 September 2026
We plan to reshape our housing allocation policy so that more time and resources can be used to help those most in need.
The proposed changes are designed to make the system fairer, to help people secure permanent housing options more quickly and to reduce the number of local people needing short-term housing.
This would give residents more security and would also free up short-term council accommodation so that those who need help in an emergency do not have to be housed in B&Bs or hotels.
The proposals include giving targeted support to help people to find somewhere to live so they do not become homeless, as well as helping vulnerable residents who have overcome problems to move into their own property.
The most significant change would involve the removal of those with no actual housing need from the Worthing waiting list. If this were to happen, our staff would be able to focus on helping those in need rather than spending time managing the applications of people who would realistically never secure a council home anyway because demand exceeds supply.
Another proposed change to the allocations policy would allow families on Worthing's housing list to move into empty council homes in Sompting, Lancing, Shoreham, Southwick or Fishersgate if those properties were not needed by Adur District Council for its residents.
We're asking residents for their thoughts on the changes, via an online consultation and drop-in events in Worthing.
The number of households on our housing waiting list has now risen to almost 2,500.
But between April and June this year, 189 more households, including families, needed help from us to find somewhere to live - an average of almost two extra households every day - as Worthing's homelessness challenge continues to grow.
At the end of July 2026, 487 local households were staying in short-term accommodation funded by us - with us having also helped more than 100 households out of short-term accommodation and into permanent homes this year alone.
This year we increased our housing budget by £1.8 million to try to reflect the increasing costs of managing homelessness amongst residents. We have also increased our efforts to prevent people from becoming homeless and needing to be housed in short-term accommodation.
By signing long-term contracts with property owners, we have managed to reduce our reliance on the use of expensive hotels and B&Bs and have been able to help Worthing families to move back to the town while permanent homes are found for them.
But despite these successes, the continued increase in the number of Worthing families coming to us for help with housing means that we are already forecasting that we will need to spend a further £1.5m beyond our agreed budget just to meet the cost of supporting residents with nowhere to live.
Councillor Sophie Cox, Worthing's cabinet member for housing, said:
“We're helping hundreds of Worthing families in short-term accommodation because of the affordable housing crisis that is continuing to grip our town and areas across the country.
“We've been successful at reducing the number of people having to stay in B&Bs and hotels and have been able to bring local people back to Worthing to be closer to their families, jobs, friends and their children's schools.
“We're now building on that work by ensuring we're focusing our attention on helping those Worthing residents who are most in need.”
We've created a webpage to provide more information about the proposed changes to our allocations policy. To read about the proposals and have your say, see:
(PR26-084)
Page last updated: 22 September 2026