Agenda item

To consider a report by Councillor Rhys Thomas, Lead Member for Housing and Communities (copy enclosed) seeking Cabinet approval for the Denbighshire Housing annual rent increase, the Housing Revenue Account Capital and Revenue Budgets for 2024/25 and Housing Stock Business Plan.

RESOLVED that –

(a)      the Housing Revenue Account Budget for 2024/25 (Appendix 1 to the report) and the Housing Stock Business Plan (Appendix 2 to the report) be adopted;

(b)      rents for Council dwellings be increased in accordance with the Welsh Government Policy for Social Housing Rents to an average weekly rent of £109.34 with effect from Monday 1 April 2024;

(c)      the additional report (Appendix 3 to the report) on the considerations taken into account when deciding on the recommendation be noted, and

(d)      Cabinet confirms that it has read, understood and taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessment (Appendix 4 to the report) as part of its consideration.

Councillor Rhys Thomas presented the report seeking Cabinet approval for the Denbighshire Housing annual rent increase, the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Capital & Revenue Budgets for 2024/25 and Housing Stock Business Plan (HSBP).

The report included the latest forecast outturn for the HRA and the proposed budget for 2024/25 which had been calculated to enable delivery of revenue services, the capital investment programme and to develop the new build programme.  In terms of the annual rent increase, the Welsh Government had set a maximum rent increase of 6.7% and it was proposed to increase weekly rents by that amount due to pressures on the HRA to invest in homes to achieve the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) and strive to deliver the corporate plan target for new homes.

Councillor Thomas highlighted that 72% of council tenants received support with their rent payments; the council would support the remaining 28% of tenants if they were in financial difficulty; 85% of respondents to the tenant’s survey agreed their rents represented value for money, and neither the Council nor the Welsh Government evicted tenants due to financial hardship.  The report had been considered by Communities Scrutiny Committee who had approved its contents.

The Head of Housing and Communities explained that the age of the existing housing stock was such that it required constant investment and meeting the new WHQS created additional pressures.  There was also a pressure to fund new build programmes with challenging times ahead.  It was proposed to increase rent by the maximum amount set but there was confidence that the rent was affordable for tenants.  The Lead Officer – Community Housing provided an overview of the affordability assessment and explained how the rent had been calculated using the Joseph Rowntree Foundation living rent model based on the 30% lowest Denbighshire incomes with rents not exceeding 28% of the weekly income of those earnings.  That work had demonstrated that rents were affordable, and all rental income would be reinvested back in the housing stock.

Councillor Huw Williams, Chair of Communities Scrutiny Committee reported on the discussions of the Scrutiny Committee following consideration of the report on 7 December 2023.  Councillor Williams paid tribute to the work of the Community Housing Team and thanked them for all their hard work and achievements, advising that the feedback from scrutiny had been extremely positive and the report recommendation had been approved.  One area of concern related to air source heating and the need to explore secondary heating to ensure tenants were not without heating for any period of time.  The Head of Housing and Communities confirmed that the matter was being given further consideration and risk assessments were being carried out.  The Leader thanked Councillor Williams for his feedback following scrutiny and welcomed more of that approach going forward.

Main areas of debate focused on the following –

·         it was clarified that the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) was ringfenced and completely separate from the council budget and budget setting process

·         members congratulated the Community Housing Team on the achievements made in social housing, both in improving existing provision and creation of new social housing, for the benefit of tenants and residents in the county

·         officers detailed the improvement to the existing council housing stock via the retrofit programme with grant funding provided to deliver improvements such as solar panels, new roofing, and external wall insulation together with planned improvement arising from the new WHQS in terms of ‘affordable warmth’ and energy improvements via air source heat pumps, solar panels and external wall insulation which created new budget pressures going forward

·         reference was made to the commitment in the Corporate Plan for an additional 170 homes and officers reported on a number of developments nearing completion in Rhyl, Prestatyn and Denbigh and work was also ongoing to buy back ex-council properties and bring those properties up to standard

·         housing was a corporate priority, and it was acknowledged that the general demand for housing was not being met and much work was ongoing to best meet that need and homelessness in the county.  The issue of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) continued to be addressed through planning policies and enforcement teams in terms of planning permission and was also being considered as part of the Local Development Plan. A mixed tenure of both social rented and private sector housing was the foundation of a thriving community.

The Leader welcomed the positive feedback from members on the work of the Community Housing Team and thanked officers for their contributions.

RESOLVED that –

(a)       the Housing Revenue Account Budget for 2024/25 (Appendix 1 to the report) and the Housing Stock Business Plan (Appendix 2 to the report) be adopted;

(b)       rents for Council dwellings be increased in accordance with the Welsh Government Policy for Social Housing Rents to an average weekly rent of £109.34 with effect from Monday 1 April 2024;

(c)        the additional report (Appendix 3 to the report) on the considerations taken into account when deciding on the recommendation be noted, and

(d)       Cabinet confirms that it has read, understood and taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessment (Appendix 4 to the report) as part of its consideration.