Register for Social Housing

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Apply for Social Housing

Gateway to Homechoice is the housing register for social housing across seven local authority areas in Suffolk and Essex. It operates as a choice-based lettings scheme, allowing residents to bid for council and housing association homes.

The scheme is run in partnership with East Suffolk, Babergh, Braintree, Colchester, Ipswich, Maldon and Mid Suffolk Councils to give residents the opportunity to bid for council and housing association homes across the partner councils.

Social Housing and Affordable rent homes available for all these council areas are advertised on the Gateway to Homechoice website. Once registered with Gateway to Homechoice applicants can search for available properties they are eligible to bid for.

Registering with Gateway to Homechoice

Anyone, over the age of 16, can apply to join the Gateway to Homechoice register, however to be accepted onto the register you must meet the eligibility criteria.

Applications are submitted online via our website. To get started, you will need to register online at Gateway to Homechoice. You will receive unique login details to manage your account.

Once you have registered, you can then submit a housing application. This form asks for details about you, your household, and your reasons for needing to move.

After you have applied, we will aim to write to you within 28 days, however this may take longer during peak periods. We will ask you to provide certain documents such as proof of ID and may request further information in order to verify your housing circumstances.

Some of the documents that you may need to complete as part of your application can be found on the following links and you could download, print and complete these when you make your application. You can simply upload them once completed to your application. If you don’t have a printer, don’t worry because the team can post these forms out to you if required.

Your application will be assessed according to our allocation policy and you will be placed into one of five bands (Bands A - E), depending on your level of housing need.

Once your information has been received by the team and your application has been verified, we will inform you that your application has been made active. We will also confirm:

your login reference
your application band and the effective date of your application
important information about your application

Once your application becomes active, you can search the Gateway to Homechoice website for available properties. You can nominate your interest on two properties each week, this is called bidding.

New adverts are published every Thursday at 00:00 AM and remain open for bidding until 11:59 PM the following Wednesday. You can submit your bids at any point during the weekly cycle. It does not matter when you bid during the cycle as the system will automatically sort people by their housing need.

Your position on a property's shortlist is determined by several factors:

Your housing band.
The effective date of your application.
Any relevant local connection or need for adapted housing.

Each property advert includes useful details to help you decide if it's right for you, such as:

The landlord’s name.
Location and size of the property.
Rent amount and key features.

Where available, adverts may also include an image of property or a similar property type, along with information about the surrounding area and local amenities. If there are specific eligibility criteria such as age restrictions or local connection requirements, these will be clearly stated in the advert.

Availability of social housing

Please be aware that demand for housing has significantly increased and far outweighs the supply of social housing. It can take a significant amount of time for applicants to be housed through Gateway to Homechoice. More information about average waiting times can be found on the Gateway to Homechoice property search.

Detailed demand information and the outcomes of the Gateway to Homechoice scheme can be found here on the Homechoice Annual Report 2024-25 and the Housing Register dashboard.

Existing Social Housing Tenants

Existing social housing tenants may also be able to apply for a mutual exchange via the following sites:

We recommend that you contact your Housing Officer or Landlord to discuss if you would be eligible.

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