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Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Budget Setting Report 2018/19 to 2022/23

31/01/2018 - Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Budget Setting Report 2018/19 to 2022/23

CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL

Record of Executive Decision

 

 

 HOUSING REVENUE ACCOUNT (HRA) BUDGET SETTING REPORT (BSR) 2018/19

 

Decision of:

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Lewis Herbert

Reference:

18/URGENCY/HS/1

Date of decision:            

31 January 2018

Recorded on:

31 January 2018

Decision Type: 

Key Decision

 

Matter for Decision:

 

The Leader is asked to take decisions in respect of both housing rents and service charges and the Housing Revenue Account revenue budget.

Why the decision had to be made (and any alternative options):

Following deliberation at the Housing Scrutiny Committee (17/01/18), the Executive Councillor for Housing took a view on a key decision which materially differed to that of the Housing Scrutiny Committee.  Under 2.5 of Part 4D Executive Procedure Rules of the Council's Constitution, the matter was referred to the Leader of the Council for Decision.

 

The draft minutes from Housing Scrutiny Committee (17/01/18) record that the Housing Scrutiny Committee supported the Liberal Democrat amendments (Part One of the recommendation A to L) by 7 votes to 5 votes. The Housing Scrutiny Committee then supported the Labour recommendations (Part Two of the recommendation M to V) set out on in the minutes.

 

The Leader of the Council was requested to make a decision, either as set out in the HRA BSR covering report (January 2018) final or as set out in the Liberal Democrat  alternative HRA BSR covering report.

 

 

The Executive Councillor’s decision(s):

 

Review of Rents and Charges

 

a)      Approve that council dwellings rents for all social rented properties be reduced by 1%, in line with legislative requirements, introduced as part of the Welfare Reform and Work Act, with effect from 2nd April 2018. This equates to an average rent reduction at the time of writing this report of £1.00 per week on a 52 week basis.

 

b)      Approve that affordable rents are reviewed in line with rent legislation, to ensure that the rents charged are no more than 80% of market rent, with this figure then reduced by the 1% per annum, as with social housing. Local policy is to cap affordable rents at the Local Housing Allowance level, which will result in rent variations in line with any changes notified to the authority in this level.

 

c)      Approve that rents for shared ownership are reviewed and amended from April 2018, in line with the specific requirements within the lease for each property.

 

d)      Approve new garage and parking space charges for 2018/19, in line with the report presented to Housing Scrutiny Committee as part of this committee cycle, as summarised in Section 3 of the HRA Budget Setting Report

 

e)      Approve the proposed service charges for Housing Revenue Account services and facilities, as shown in Appendix B of the HRA Budget Setting Report.

 

f)       Approve the proposed leasehold administration charges for 2018/19, as detailed in Appendix B of the HRA Budget Setting Report.

 

g)      Approve that caretaking, building cleaning, estate services, grounds maintenance, temporary housing premises and utilities, sheltered scheme premises and utilities, digital television aerial, flat cleaning and catering charges continue to be recovered at full cost, as detailed in Appendix B of the HRA Budget Setting Report, recognising that local authorities should endeavour to limit increases to inflation as measured by CPI at September 2017 (3%) plus 1%, wherever possible.

 

h)      Approve that service charges for gas maintenance, door entry systems, lifts and electrical and mechanical maintenance are increased in an attempt recover full estimated costs, as detailed in Appendix B of the HRA Budget Setting Report, recognising that local authorities should endeavour to limit increases to inflation as measured by CPI at September 2017 (3%) plus 1%, equivalent to an increase of 4% in total, wherever possible.

 

Revenue – HRA

 

Revised Budget 2017/18:

 

i)        Approve with any amendments, the Revised Budget identified in Section 4 of the HRA Budget Setting Report, which reflects a net reduction in the use of HRA reserves for 2017/18 of £52,810.

 

Budget 2018/19:

 

j)        Approve with any amendments, any Non-Cash Limit items identified in Section 4 of the HRA Budget Setting Report or shown in Appendix D (1) of the HRA Budget Setting Report.

 

k)       Approve with any amendments, any Savings, Increased Income, Unavoidable Revenue Pressures and Reduced Income proposals, as shown in Appendix D (1) of the HRA Budget Setting Report.  

 

l)        Approve the resulting Housing Revenue Account revenue budget as summarised in the Housing Revenue Account Summary Forecast 2017/18 to 2022/23 shown in Appendix J of the HRA Budget Setting Report.

 

Under Part 2 of the agenda: Recommend to Council

 

Treasury Management

 

m)     Recognise the decision taken in 2017/18 to defer the review of the current approach to treasury management, which requires 25% of the value of the housing debt to be set-aside by the point at which the loan portfolio matures until after it is clear whether or not the policy to introduce a levy in respect of the sale of higher value voids will be implemented.

 

Housing Capital

 

n)      Approval of capital bids, shown in Appendix D (2) of the HRA Budget Setting Report, to include the replacement of the estate service champion vehicle, recognition of increased costs for the replacement of the housing management information system and the refurbishment / reconfiguration works at Ditchburn Place, and to recognise additional investment in Disabled Facilities Grants in line with anticipated grant awarded through the Better Care Fund via the County Council.

 

o)      Approval of the latest Decent Homes Programme, to include updated allocation and timing of decent homes expenditure for new build dwellings, as detailed in Appendix E of the HRA Budget Setting Report.

 

p)      Approval of the latest budget sums, profiling and associated financing for new build schemes including the scheme approved at Mill Road by Strategy & Resources, based upon the latest cost information from the Cambridge Investment Partnership (CIP) or direct procurements, as detailed in Appendices E and H, and summarised in Appendix K, of the HRA Budget Setting Report

 

q)      Incorporation into the Housing Capital Investment Plan, a Section 106 affordable housing contribution of £1,750,000, to be used as funding towards the delivery of affordable housing within the city, by the HRA.

  

r)       Approval to earmark additional resource of £2,151,000 towards the cost of a denser re-development at Akeman Street, in advance of the revised scheme being presented to Housing Scrutiny Committee in March 2018 for formal decision. This will allow the scheme to proceed should the CIP tendered cost fall within the approved cost envelope or allowable contract parameters.

 

s)      Approval of the revised Housing Capital Investment Plan as shown in Appendix K of the HRA Budget Setting Report.

 

General

 

t)       Approval of delegation to the Head of Finance, as Section 151 Officer,

         to approve an in year increase in the budget for disabled facilities grants, in direct relation to any increase in the capital grant funding for this purpose, as received from the County Council through the Better Care Fund.

 

u)       Approval of delegation to the Strategic Director to review and amend the level of fees charged by the Shared Home Improvement Agency for disabled facilities grants and repair assistance grants, in line with any decisions s made by the Shared Home Improvement Agency Board.

 

v)      Approval of delegation to the Strategic Director, in consultation with the Head of Finance, as Section 151 Officer, to draw down resource from the ear-marked reserve for potential debt redemption or re-investment, for the purpose of open market property acquisition or new build housing development, should the need arise, in order to meet quarterly deadlines for the use of retained right to buy receipts.

 

Reasons for the decision:

The reasons for the decision are as set out in the HRA BSR report to Housing Scrutiny Committee (17.1.18). In addition to this, the Leader noted the following reasons for decision:

 

-      in respect of rent-setting, the Council’s policy to set rents for new Council homes at the Local Housing Allowance level (including service charges) ensures low income families are eligible for help with rent where needed, but also maintains an income-stream for the Council to maintain its homes and build new ones. Council tenants have indicated (in the last survey) that new Council house building is their top priority; it is a very high priority for the Council, and we are committed to a business plan that will allow us to continue building new homes. Furthermore, the Liberal Democrat proposal to reduce rents for those in larger properties would have meant that families in two-bed homes would pay more rent than those living in a three-bed home next door, regardless of their family size, income or other circumstances. This is not equitable.

-      In respect of support for tenants who are affected by the introduction of Universal Credit, we agree with the Opposition that there are reasons to be concerned about the impact on many people, and for this reason we are proposing a package of support and advice to be funded through the General Fund, and available to all claimants, not only those who hold Council tenancies. In this way, we are offering equal support and advice to all those who need it, regardless of tenure. Our housing staff will closely monitor the impact on our tenants, and if further support is needed, we will review this: we have resources within the Housing Transformation Fund which will be made available if additional support is required.

-      With regard to the suggestion that additional funding be put into estate improvements, we agree that the removal of the estate improvement funds from the budget (as a result of government rent reductions in 2015 – check) has increased pressure on these areas. We already have over £1M of capital funding in the budget for communal and external spaces in 2018/19, but we will further commit to ensuring that we make available enough surveying resource to complete the programme of estate inspections that has been begun in the current year. We will identify any underspends estate improvements and Housing Transformation in the current year which could be used to help to escalate the programme in 2018.  No changes to be budget are needed to do this, and our staff will ensure ward councillors and local residents representatives continue to be engaged in prioritising the work for their local areas.

-      With regard to repairs for vulnerable tenants: our report on repairs has been delayed as the officer data analysis is not complete. We have committed to ensuring that our services support vulnerable people, and we will review any proposals in a future report, to ensure that vulnerable tenants (including those in sheltered schemes) are not disadvantaged.

 

Scrutiny consideration:

As described above the matter was scrutinized at Housing Scrutiny Committee on 17.1.18. The Leader of the Council endorsed the recommendations of the Officer as set out in the substantive report.

 

Report:

The report and amendment are published here: https://democracy.cambridge.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=414&MId=3278&Ver=4

 

Conflicts of interest:

 

None

Comments:

This decision was published on 31 January 2018 and the Housing Scrutiny Committee and Executive Councillor for Housing were advised.