Labour MP Responds After Explosive Teesside & Durham Post Investigation Into “Rigged” Hartlepool Housing Allocations Scheme....

The Labour MP for Hartlepool Jonathan Brash has responded to the Teesside & Durham Post Housing Allocations Scheme scandal which blew open the systemic failings in a council operated housing scheme...

18th October 2025

The Labour MP for Hartlepool, Jonathan Brash, has said he's taking the allegations surrounding Hartlepool Borough Council’s housing allocations scheme “extremely seriously” after a Teesside & Durham Post investigation exposed serious failings within the council’s Homesearch Choice-Based Lettings scheme.

Our 15-page report, published this week, has blown the lid off what’s being described as a “two-tier housing system” being operated in Hartlepool— one where certain applicants appear to be favoured, whilst others, including disabled and vulnerable residents, are left behind.

Two-Tier Allocations and ‘Skipped’ Applicants

There's claims appeals for those being disqualified from the housing register are getting held "behind closed doors", with applicants not even allowed to make representations for those appeals in person...

The Teesside & Durham Post’s findings revealed that homes in Hartlepool are regularly being allocated to applicants in low housing demand bands, whilst others with urgent medical needs or direct waiting list status are being “skipped” entirely.

Some disabled and vulnerable applicants, despite clear evidence of serious health conditions or support needs, have been found to be waiting for years, despite it being found that there are only around 2600 applicants registered with the Homesearch scheme. Its also been discovered that lower priority applicants have been found to have been offered properties ahead of higher priority applicants, suggesting chronic mismanagement of the areas housing stock.

The revelation has intensified growing concerns that Hartlepool Borough Council’s housing system is been quietly manipulated behind the scenes by council officials, raising fresh questions about transparency, fairness, and equality in the allocation of social housing in Hartlepool.

‘Revenge Disqualifications’ and Questionable Removals

Perhaps the most shocking part of our investigation were the claims that so called “revenge disqualifications” have been used by housing officials to remove applicants from the register for what's been described as trivial or highly speculative reasons.

According to the investigation, around 326 applicants — roughly 12% of the total number of applicants registered on the Homesearch register — have been disqualified, meaning they're ineligible to apply for social housing via Hartlepool Borough Council, many are said to be for claims of historic rent arrears that applicants were either seemingly unaware of due to the passage of time with no evidence from either party to support those claims, as well as claims some officials were targeting some applicants who they knew personally, or had "made too much noise" in respect of complaints either about the local council or a housing provider, also known as 'Blacklisting'...

Appeals Process 'A Closed Shop'....

Whistleblowers allege many of these disqualifications were not independently reviewed, and that the appeals process is effectively a “closed shop,” leaving residents with little or no recourse when they are unfairly removed.

Applicants are left then with little other recourse in terms of taking their case to an Ombudsman following concerns neither the Housing Ombudsman, or the Local Government Ombudsman are seemingly aware of who should be dealing with the complaint, leaving applicants falling into a legal 'abyss'....

One housing expert quoted in Our report described the system as “an opaque, punitive & 'sickening setup' that deliberately punishes people for being poor, disabled, or fall into a category of what the council perceives to be difficult to manage, usually through disability or vulnerability.”

Link to Broader Housing Controversies

The scandal comes on the heels of wider controversy over Hartlepool Borough Council’s housing policy — including exemptions that seemingly allow newly recognised refugees and asylum seekers to bypass local connection rules entirely.

While the council defends this policy as being in line with national guidance, critics argue it’s yet another example of how local residents are being repeatedly sidelined by a housing system that seems more focused on bureaucracy, diversity and quotas rather than being based on fairness or need.

Together, these revelations paint a picture of a housing department completely out of control, where accountability has collapsed and vulnerable people paying the price.

MP Jonathan Brash Has Responded

Labour MP for Hartlepool, Jonathan Brash responded quickly to the concerns raised in our report

Labour MP Jonathan Brash responded promptly to the Teesside & Durham Post’s report, confirming this week that he has contacted Hartlepool Borough Council directly and is awaiting a full response.

Whilst Brash’s swift engagement has been welcomed, campaigners are calling for more than just words on the issue, with many now saying the council’s entire housing allocations scheme must be taken out of Hartlepool Borough Councils hands and handed to an independent oversight body to restore public confidence.

Calls to Scrap the Scheme

Local campaigners, are now demanding the Homesearch system be scrapped entirely, branding it a “broken, biased, and unaccountable failure.", with our report making several recommendations, one of which is the closure of the scheme completely & a new independent department set up to manage Hartlepool's Housing Stock.

With hundreds of families on the waiting list, derelict homes lying empty across the town, and growing evidence of internal mismanagement of the Hartlepool Choice Based Housing Scheme, many believe this should be the final nail in the coffin for Hartlepool’s controversial housing system.

A System in Crisis

Hartlepool Borough Council is on its third revised Choice Based lettings Scheme, each worse than the previous ones, with calls for the scheme to be scrapped altogether.

For years, Hartlepool Borough Council has repeated faced criticism for its handling of housing allocations, financial management, and property acquisitions. Now, with our investigation confirming what many residents had long suspected, the question is no longer a case of whether the system is broken — but who's going to fix it ?.

Calls for a full independent inquiry are intensifying. Until then, hundreds of local families remain trapped in limbo — waiting for homes that never seem to come, but seemingly an abundance of homes being allocated to people who've spent just weeks on the housing register...... & in some cases.... Just Days !...