At its meeting last night (Thursday 15 February) the Council agreed its Housing Revenue and Capital Budget for 2018/19 which will see rents for Council houses increase by 3.9%.
Thomas Glen, Depute Chief Executive with responsibility for the Housing Service explained, “Our revenue budget of just over £13.8 million pounds will ensure that we continue to deliver an affordable and sustainable housing service to our tenants. The proposed increase has been met with broad agreement from tenants and tenants groups through our consultation process and comparisons with our peer group authorities shows proposed increases ranging between 1.5% and 5%.”
The 3.9% increase delivers £13.2 million, the income required by Council to balance the Housing Revenue Account. The average weekly rent will increase from £70.52 to £73.27 over a 52-week period, an average weekly increase of £2.75.
Mr Glen continued, “Our Capital budget of £13 million pounds was also approved and will ensure that we can continue to invest in our current housing stock, improving kitchens, bathrooms, windows, roofs. In addition to maintenance and improvement costs it includes £8 million for building new homes and £1 million to purchase properties on the open market.”
The housing capital programme for 2018/19 will ensure that the Council can:
- Maintain the Scottish Housing Quality Standard for all Council properties
- Continue progress towards meeting the 2020 Energy Efficient Standard for Social Housing (with the associated economic and environmental benefits)
- Increasing the HRA stock by 375 new Council homes in the next five years (through the New Build programme and open market house purchases)
Mr Glen added, “Our housing budgets, with significant levels of investment will help us to maintain and increase our housing stock, ensuring that we continue to deliver an effective value for money Housing Service to our tenants.”
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