ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the two tests in the definition in relation to a database from our housing needs surveys. The Fordham Research approach is intended to provide a definition of housing need which permits degrees of need to be established, and which is based on reasonably objective criteria, rather than simply the aspiration of a household to move from their present home. Any points threshold, like any points system, is in principle arbitrary. Some council have attempted to use thresholds as indicators of the point at which households will be guaranteed re-housing. The test uses a system which is common in many local authorities, and the range of topics considered is also typical of many Housing Registers. The sample of councils is fairly broad, covering urban and rural councils. The typical housing needs survey attempts to measure current need - the ‘stock’ of housing need at any given time.
