Rent Setting Engagement 2021

Councillor Johnson introduced the report and stated that this updated the HRA 30 year business plan to ensure that there was a sufficient income to pay for services. He stated that the proposed increase in rent would help to maintain the current level of service, and would ensure all residents lived in good quality housing. He outlined that the projects in Claudian Way and the Tops Club had now been finished, and the Calcutta Road project was almost finished. He added that the HRA New Build project, using return on right to buy receipts would increase the council’s housing stock by 70 homes. He explained that the 1.5% proposed rent increase would lead to £462,000 additional monies for the HRA, which would be used to continue the Council’s statutory duties, as well undertaking projects residents had wanted during the consultation survey, which included the external decoration programme. He stated that the rent increase would equate to an average increase of £1.35 per week for residents, but would be covered by Universal Credit and housing benefit for those residents who were on it. He added that the money would also be used to help manage fire safety, tower block refurbishment and carbon neutral properties.

The Leader thanked Councillor Johnson for his report and highlighted that the proposed increase in rent would help maintain the current service level, and would provide, safe and secure housing for tenants. He stated that some tenants still lived in poor quality, old housing stock, which would need investment to keep up with modern lifestyles, such as working and teaching from home, which put a strain on older houses. He explained that he was aware of some residents with damp and mould issues, which would be tackled through investment. He added that plans were currently in place to increase the number of council houses in the future, and the housing team were currently looking at alternative buildings, which would require less maintenance and repairs.

Councillor Redsell added that she had received feedback from residents near the new Chadwell housing site, who had felt that the new accommodation looked lovely.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet:

1. Agreed the changes in the base budget for 2021/22.

2. Agreed an increase in domestic rent of 1.50% from 5 April 2021, in line with the 30-year HRA business plan.

3. Agreed the increase in service charges to reflect the costs of running each service, in line with the 30-year HRA business plan, from 5 April 2021 (detailed in table 5).

4. Agreed the charges for garage rents (paragraph 3.10).

5. Considered the recommendation made by the Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee set out in section 7.

Reason for decision: as outlined in report.
This decision is subject to call-in.

The report on pages 67 – 76 was presented by Mike Jones.

The Chair commented that people did not like to see bills increasing but it would not be sustainably financial to not increase rents as the Council needed to meet costs. He said that this was not always clear to tenants and that it would be difficult for some during the pandemic. He questioned how Officers would be communicating this to residents and what the alternative would be if rents were not increased. Mike Jones answered that the Council would look to reduce services as an alternative and there was very little discretionary available in the HRA. The rent reduction in past years had significant impacts on the HRA Business Plan and it had been a case of looking at what costs could be cut to maintain the existing level of service. Without a rent increase, inflation would take over the budget and a review of the costs within the HRA would be considered and certain works that were not statutory obligations could be reduced such as improving properties for residents.

The Chair sought reassurances that the service had considered the HRA in detail and that there was no significant amount of ‘waste’ where cost savings could be made without affecting services. Carol Hinvest assured that there was no ‘waste’ and that there was also not a lot of discretionary spend within the HRA. This was spent on the services needed for the Council’s tenants which was identified from the survey results. Roger Harris added that there had been 4 years of rent reduction and that the service had stripped down significant savings in that period. The Chair supported the increases which was needed and it was a moderate increase. He highlighted the importance of communicating the increases clearly to tenants in a sensitive manner.

Councillor Redsell sought more detail on parking areas and garages. Mike Jones explained that the parking areas referred to hardstanding areas and that the maintenance of these. Carol Hinvest added that there were also garage plots that people could rent and build a garage on. In regards to garages, the service would be spending within the budget and the Garage Project Officer had been identifying potential sites for housing or to turn into hardstanding parking spaces.

Councillor Abbas commented that keeping a balanced budget was the priority as well as keeping an income coming in but he felt that with the current pandemic, he would support a 0.5% increase and not the proposed 1.5% increase for rent. He also supported the garage rent increase but not service charges as residents complained that they did not receive all these services. Carol Hinvest highlighted that only 50% of residents paid the service charges and that residents could raise an enquiry if they felt that the service that they were paying for was not value for money. The Chair felt that service charges were controversial and commented that the other option would be to increase rents and ... view the full minutes text for item 38.