Agenda item

The Director of Housing submits a report setting out the proposed Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget (including Capital Programme) for 2024/25, which will be considered by Council on 21 February 2024. An extract from the meeting of the Housing Scrutiny Commission on 19 January 2024 is attached.

The Overview Select Committee is recommended to make any comments on the report.

The Director of Housing submitted a report setting out the proposed Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget (including Capital Programme) for 2024/25, which would be considered by Full Council on 21 February 2024.

The report had also been considered by the Housing Scrutiny Commission on 9 January 2024, and comments from the commission were provided to committee members.

The Director of Housing made the following points in introducing the report:

-       The proposals within the report were for the charges to tenants and leaseholders for services they received to be representative of the underlying cost of the service being provided.

-       It was a legal requirement for a balanced budget to be set for the HRA.

-       A rent increase of 7.7% for HRA tenants was being proposed.  It was noted that 60% of tenants were in receipt of housing benefit or equivalent, which would cover the proposed increase.

-       A 7.7% increase for garage rents was proposed.

-       A 6.7% increase in service charges was proposed.

-       A 10.1% reduction in Way lighting service charge was proposed

-       A 5% increase was proposed for hostel rent

-       A 5% increase was also proposed for Gipsy and Traveller plot rents. 

-       A reduction in the charges for district heating was being proposed, including a 29% reduction in the variable charge for metered heat and a 24% reduction in the fixed metered charges. 

-       A capital budget for 2024/25 of £25.86m was proposed which included £10.86m investment in the council housing stock.

-       The proposals had been supported by the Tenants and Leaseholders Forum and had also been considered by the Housing Scrutiny Commission. 

The Chair acknowledged the significant amount of positive work proposed within the programme.  In response to further comments and questions from members, the following points were raised:

-       The increase proposed for hostel rents and service charges were set to cover increased costs for the provision offered by the Dawn Centre, and a 5% increase was therefore required.  The proposed 5% increase for Gipsy and Traveller plot rents was set in the same way, to cover actual costs of running the sites. 

-       It was anticipated that a further 225 properties would be sold under the right to buy scheme.  This equated to approximately £1.2m in rent. 

-       A further 10 housing craft apprentices would be recruited, which took the total number to 40 operatives.  The vacancy level of staff operatives now stood at under 10, which represented a dramatic reduction. 

-       Housing voids stood at the lowest level for many years, with less than 2% of the council’s housing stock being currently empty.

-       It was noted that the proposals considered at the last OSC meeting in respect of supporting families and people facing homelessness would be taken to a future meeting of Full Council.   The enhanced rough sleeper provision would be kept under review. 

AGREED:

(1)   That the recommendations for Full Council be noted by the committee; and

(2) That the comments of the Housing Scrutiny Commission be noted by the committee.