Apply for housing

How the housing register works

The Gateway to Homechoice scheme is a partnership between eight housing authorities:

  • Babergh
  • Braintree
  • Colchester
  • Ipswich
  • Maldon
  • Mid Suffolk
  • Suffolk Coastal
  • Waveney

The scheme aims to make the allocation of social housing more transparent and offer greater choice to applicants. 

If you are looking for social housing in one of the partner areas, you only need to complete one application form to complete. 

You can find out how to register on our Apply for housing page.

The bidding process

We run the bidding process on a weekly basis:

  • we advertise available properties once a week between Thursday and Wednesday
  • you can bid on properties which meet your need through Gateway to Homechoice website
  • when the weekly bidding cycle closes, we sort the bids for each property into priority order
  • applicants with the highest band and who have been on the register the longest will be at the top of the order
  • this means that people with the most urgent need who have been waiting for the longest for a home go to the top of the list
  • we draw up a shortlist of the top two or three people for each property
  • we then arrange a viewing of each property for the people on the shortlist
  • if the first person likes the property, they can accept it. If they decide not to, we then move down the list to the next person and so on

Housing Services

Address: Causeway House
Bocking End
Braintree
Essex
CM7 9HB

Telephone: 01376 552525

Green and grey text saying tell me more with a white email icon in a green speech bubble

Stay connected

Sign up for our email newsletter to get service updates and the latest news.

Sign up today