Housing allocation and homelessness privacy notice

Housing allocation and homelessness privacy notice

This privacy notice explains what information the council needs in order to deliver the housing allocation and homelessness services.

In order to provide this service, it is necessary for the council to collect, store and process personal data relating to housing applicants, tenants and persons at risk or who are homeless.

Safeguards are in place to ensure that this data is kept secure and the privacy of individuals is protected.

This privacy notice should be read alongside the council’s main privacy notice.

Who is responsible for your information?

Chesterfield Borough Council is the data controller for the personal information collected.

How is your information collected?

As part of the Housing Options service, the council may collect information about you in a number of ways, including (but not limited to):

  • information you provided to us
  • information passed to us from an advice agency (with your consent or to protect your vital interests)
  • information provided to us by referees, previous landlords, other local authorities, the emergency services, social services, government departments, or other agencies you refer us to
  • if you apply for a property marketed by us through the Home Options partnership, your personal details will be shared with us
  • if you request a review of the way your housing application to another Home Options partner has been handled, this may be passed to a Chesterfield Borough Council manager for an independent review
  • information provided by debt collection agencies or from open source intelligence such as publicly accessible social media (including Facebook)

Housing applications

Purposes of processing your personal data

Assessment of eligibility - We need to process the personal information of housing applicants and their family members in order to assess their housing needs and eligibility for council housing.

Bidding on a property – Your information is used to create a shortlist of applicants for each property, and to assess priority against our allocation policy. If you are successful in bidding for a property, the information supplied with your application is used to create the start of your tenancy file and to update relevant utility companies.

End of tenancy - At the end of a tenancy, we need to contact tenants and/or their family members in order to arrange a pre-termination inspection (for council tenants) and to organise the return of the keys. If contact details are unavailable, or if we need to trace the next of kin of a deceased tenant, we may use other channels to try to make contact, for example social media.

Prevention and detection of fraud - Information may also be used for the prevention and detection of fraud.

Categories of personal data and lawful basis

In order to provide this service, we may need to process some or all of the following categories of personal information:

  • contact details and date of birth
  • tax or benefits details
  • criminal convictions
  • proof of identity (such as passport, driving licence, birth certificate)
  • information about your housing circumstances and social situation

Under data protection legislation, processing of this data is allowed because we have a statutory duty to provide a housing allocation service, or because it forms part of the performance of your tenancy contract.

Categories of sensitive personal data and lawful basis

In order to provide this service, we may need to process some or all of the following categories of sensitive personal information:

  • health information
  • ethnicity
  • religion

Under data protection legislation, processing of this data is allowed because it is for reasons of substantial public interest.

Who we share your personal data with

We may share applicant information with other support agencies in order to best assess the needs of some applicants, or to help you find an appropriate property.  We may also receive information from these parties about your application. These third parties may include other teams within the council as well as external organisations, including:

  • Derbyshire County Council
  • health services
  • the police
  • other local authorities or social landlords

As part of the Home Options partnership, your information may be shared with other local authorities and social landlords if you bid on one of their properties. If you request an independent review of a decision we have made about your application, your personal information will be passed to a manager at another Home Options partnership organisation. The Home Options platform is provided in partnership with other local authorities in our region. For more information, please see the Home Options website.

Information may be shared with other teams within Chesterfield Borough Council for statutory enforcement purposes.

We will also share information with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), who collect data for statistical and research purposes. See the MHCLG privacy notice here. 

We are required to share housing application data with the Cabinet Office as part of a national data matching exercise to prevent and detect fraud. Please see our National Fraud Initiative privacy notice, and the Cabinet Office privacy notice, for more details.

When you move into a new property, we will pass your contact details and date of birth to the relevant utility companies supplying your new property.

Housing adaptations

Purposes of processing your personal data

We need to process personal information about tenants and/or their family members that need housing adaptations to allow them to keep living in their own home.

Categories of personal data and lawful basis

In order to provide this service, we may need to process some or all of the following categories of personal information:

  • contact details
  • age and gender

Under data protection legislation, processing of this data is allowed because we have a statutory duty to provide this service.

Categories of sensitive personal data and lawful basis

In order to provide this service, we may need to process some or all of the following categories of sensitive personal information:

  • health information

Under data protection legislation, processing of this data is allowed because it is for reasons of substantial public interest.

Who we share your personal data with

This processing is done in collaboration with Derbyshire County Council adult care team. Where clients apply to us for adaptations, we will pass their information to the Derbyshire County Council adult care team to initiate an assessment. We will only do this with their consent. We will also receive information from the Derbyshire County Council adult care team confirming the outcome of their assessments of that clients needs.

Homelessness support

Purposes of processing your personal data

We need to process the personal information of clients in order to help them access support to prevent or relieve homelessness, to provide emergency accommodation, or to make an application under homelessness legislation.

Categories of personal data and lawful basis

In order to provide this service, we may need to process some or all of the following categories of personal information:

  • contact details
  • tax and/or benefit details
  • criminal convictions
  • proof of identity (such as passport, driving licence)
  • relationship details about your family or acquaintances

Under data protection legislation, processing of this data is allowed because we have a statutory duty to provide this service in the public interest. We may also process some information to protect your vital interests, or because we have your consent.

If processing is based on your consent, this will be made clear to you, and you can withdraw your consent at any time.

Categories of sensitive personal data and lawful basis

In order to provide this service, we may need to process some or all of the following categories of sensitive personal information:

  • health information
  • ethnicity
  • religion

Under data protection legislation, processing of this data is allowed because it is for reasons of substantial public interest, or because we have your explicit consent.

Who we share your personal data with

We may share applicant information with other support agencies in order to best assess the needs of some applicants.  We may also receive information from these parties about your application. These third parties may include other teams within the council as well as external organisations, including:

  • Social care and health services provided by other local authorities
  • Other parties working to support the homeless (for example, night shelters run by local charities)
  • police
  • Emergency services
  • neighbourhoods team (Chesterfield Borough Council)
  • environmental services (Chesterfield Borough Council)

Information may also be shared with other teams within the council for statutory enforcement purposes. 

We will share information with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), who collect data to research the causes of homelessness and effectiveness of prevention. If you want more information you can ask a member of staff using contact details below. You can also contact MHCLG’s Knowledge and Information Team about seeing your data or withdrawing from the research by emailing MHCLG’s Data Protection Officer at dataprotection@communities.gov.uk  

Further information

Please get in touch if you would like more information about how the council processes your personal data:

Last updated on 11/11/2024