Housing Allocation Information

A short while ago, I worried about proposed changes to Council House Allocation Policy.

Part of the justification given for the charges is

"the reasons behind the proposed changes are primarily to ensure the Council makes best use of
its stock and to give applicants realistic housing options. If you look at the attached spreadsheet for Formartine it shows that out of the 24 settlement 5 have a stock of 3 or less houses; 9 had no turnover in 2010/2011 and a further 8 had turnover of only 1 or 2 houses. While allowing applicants to chose from 24 settlement may appear to offer choice, in reality it is misleading in that there is either no or very little turnover in many of these settlements."

But over 40% give the reason for refusal in Formartine as Not Area Desired.  Just how does forcing people to specify a larger area help this?

Reason	%
Garden unsuitable	1.3
Heating	2.6
No longer require housing	10.4
No reason given	1.3
No response within 5 working days	7.8
Not area desired	42.9
Not ready to move	18.2
Property type unsuitable	2.5
Property unsuitable	13.0

Wouldn't it be better to be honest with people about the (lack of) houses available across the area:

Formartine	1 bed	2 bed	3 bed	4 bed
AUCHEDLY			1
AUCHTERLESS			4
BALMEDIE	9	10	2
BARRAVALE			1
BEREFOLD			2
CAIRNHILL			5
COLLIESTON	3	1
CUMINESTOWN	11	21	14	1
DAVIOT	3	2	4
ELLON	134	92	51
FOVERAN			3
FYVIE	32	20	11
KINHARRACHIE			1
METHLICK	20	17	4
NEWBURGH	12	10	13
OLDMELDRUM	50	56	10	4
PITMEDDEN	14	25	22
POTTERTON		11	15
ROTHIENORMAN	24	25	8
TARVES	29	14	6	5
TIPPERTY		3	4
TURRIFF	99	130	66	2
UDNY GREEN	7	2	2
UDNY STATION	17	16	7

and ask them to pick enough areas where they would accept a house as possible, pointing out that the total turnover last year was only 82 houses against a waiting list of 951.

Or does the council think that prospective council house tenants are too stupid to figure out that where houses are in short supply, their odds of getting offered anything is close to snowball in hell - but that if they choose places with some stock, there is a better chance?