New public sector housing eligibility criteria - including pay to stay for those who don’t meet it - could be put before Tynwald next week.

The new criteria do not appear on the initial Tynwald agenda, published last Thursday ahead of next week’s setting, but it is understood it may appear on a supplementary order paper.

Although full details have not yet been revealed, it is expected to include the provision that those tenants who earn above the financial threshold for eligibility for public sector housing will be given an option of paying a higher rent in order to stay in their home, as long as their income does not exceed an upper threshold.

It is expected the new criteria will be introduced alongside the first of the five-year fixed term tenancies that are set to come in next year.

Infrastructure Minister Ray Harmer said the main purpose of the new criteria was to make it ’based on need’.

Meanwhile, he said the latest local authority to sign up for joint housing waiting lists was good new for tenants.

Port St Mary Commissioners have now joined the joint list for southern authorities. It means that people waiting for a public sector home in Port St Mary will be included on a waiting list that also covers Arbory, Castletown, Malew, Port Erin, Rushen and Santon, offering more flexibility.

Initially the board had refused to join, but had a change of heart, claiming it wanted to see how the scheme worked, first.

Mr Harmer said there were similar schemes working successfully for the north and the east, while Peel and the other western authorities have a joint allocation.

Onchan Commissioners was now the only authority not to participate in any inclusive scheme.

’We already have a number of people who are not being housed because they are on their own,’ he said.

’In other places, we have seen waiting lists drop. It has made a huge difference.’

Mr Harmer has previously ruled out government imposing sanctions on authorities who do not sign up for a shared scheme, warning that would punish the tenants.