At its meeting last night (Thursday 14 February) the Council unanimously agreed its Housing Revenue and Capital Budget for 2019/20, which will see rents for Council houses increase by 3.5%.
Convener of Place, Neighbourhood and Corporate Assets, Councillor Billy Hendry, explained, "Our housing revenue budget of just over £14.5 million will ensure that we continue to deliver an affordable and sustainable housing service to our tenants. The proposed increase in rent has been met with broad agreement amongst tenants and tenants' groups through our consultation process and it also compares favourably with our neighbouring authorities, who are proposing increases of between 2% and 3.9%."
The 3.5% increase delivers the income required from rent by Council to balance the Housing Revenue Account and will increase the average weekly rent from £73.27 to £75.83 over a 52-week period, an average weekly increase of £2.56.
Councillor Hendry continued, "Our Capital budget of just over £13.4 million will ensure that we can continue to invest in our current housing stock - improving kitchens, bathrooms, windows and roofs. It also includes over £7.5 million for building new homes and £1 million to purchase properties on the open market as part of our plans to add 375 new council houses to our stocks over the next five years."
The housing capital programme for 2019/20 will ensure that the Council can maintain the Scottish Housing Quality Standard for all its properties and make further progress towards fully meeting the 2020 Energy Efficient Standard for Social Housing with the economic and environmental benefits that brings.
"Our agreed capital investment plans for open market house purchases and for our new build programme this year are contributing to our plans to deliver 375 much-needed new Council homes to our existing housing stock over the next five years," Councillor Hendry added.
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