Council and democracy
Home > Council and Democracy > Issue
85 Fundamental Review of the Housing Service PDF 249 KB
Minutes:
This item was chaired by Councillor Todd-Jones
Matter for
Decision
i. A fundamental review of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and General Fund (GF) housing services was initiated in autumn 2014. At that time it was recognised that we were nearly 3 years into self-financing, and had an ambitious future programme to manage our existing stock and our broader housing management services well, and also to build new affordable housing. The review was designed to enable us to review spending profiles and priorities, and to rebalance the budget and activities to take account of both new opportunities and pressures.
ii. The analysis that we have undertaken in the review was designed to help us respond in our forward business planning to the changing priorities and major new pressures. We were expecting to rebalance budgets and redirect resources through identified savings. The most significant finding of the review was the impact of construction inflation on our repairs and planned works programme and on new build.
iii. More recently we have needed to plan for the new Government proposals for council housing, which will have a significant impact on future rental income, stock retention, and as a result, our capital investment programme. In bringing forward the conclusions of the review we have had to look more radically at the future of housing services than we initially anticipated. Strategic proposals are made for the service as a whole to respond to the extent of change and the level of savings facing the service, whilst specific proposals are made for individual service areas.
Decision
of Executive Councillor for Housing
i. Agreed in principle to take savings for year one, and to agree the specific savings in the Mid-Year Financial Review which follows on this agenda.
ii. Agreed to bring back a strategy for achieving a balanced budget in future years, including further savings options, shared services and other potential options.
Reason for the Decision
As set out in the Officer’s report.
Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected
Not applicable.
Scrutiny
Considerations
The Committee received a report from the Director of Customer and Community Services. She outlined the
context of the report and reminded Members that the decision was to agree, in
principle, the suggested savings. Further challenges were likely in the future.
The Committee made the following comments in response to the report:
i.
Sought clarification regarding the recommendations
which some Member’s suggested were vague.
ii.
Expressed concerns about interest being paid on
funds that were being held but were not unavailable for use.
iii.
Expressed concerns about the ability to use Right
to Buy receipts.
iv.
Suggested the debt portfolio should be reviewed.
v.
Requested a briefing as the situation was complex.
vi.
Suggested that difficult decisions had to be made
based on the reality of the situation.
vii.
Raised concern about the impact on existing tenants
and those on the waiting list.
viii.
Asked if tenants could choose not to take the rent
reductions.
In response to Members’ questions the Director of Customer and Community Services said that there
was a need to make decisions quickly. The previous budget had been set on
assumptions that were common across the sector. The long-term debt and risk
profile would be looked at.
Members suggested that public awareness of
policies such as ‘Pay to Stay’ and ‘Right to Buy’ was low and suggested that
more publicity was needed.
The Executive Councillor for Housing
outlined the likely impact of the new Right to Buy
strategy. The Council could be forced to sell up to 25% of existing stock and
would not benefit from the receipts for house sales. Difficult decisions were
being forced on Local Authorities.
The Committee resolved by 6 votes to 0 and with 2 abstentions to endorse
the recommendation.
The Executive Councillor
approved the recommendations.