Agenda item

Consideration was given to the report which detailed how the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) recorded all expenditure and income relating to the provision of council housing and related services, and how the Council was required to produce a HRA Business Plan setting out its investment priorities over a thirty year period.

Following the introduction in 2012 of HRA self-financing, whereby the Council was awarded control over its HRA in return for taking on a proportion of national housing debt, Rotherham’s HRA was in a strong position with a healthy level of reserves.  However a number of policies have been introduced by Central Government that resulted in a reduction to HRA resources, namely:-

·                1% per annum reduction in Council rents over four years.

·                Reinvigoration of the Right to Buy (reduction of qualifying period to three years): Reducing stock.

·                Welfare reform - bedroom tax, universal credit and benefits cap: Impacting on tenants’ ability to pay their rent, and increasing the resources required by the Council to collect rent from tenants in receipt of benefits.

·                Introduction in the future of mandatory fixed term tenancies.

·                Introduction in the future of the enforced sale of high value properties/ equivalent levy  meaning the Council would have to pay in the region of £2m annually to the Treasury, to cover the costs of the discounts housing associations must offer now they could offer the Right to Buy to their tenants.

Whilst significant savings were required to ensure the HRA Business Plan was balanced over the thrity year period the extent of these pressures had reduced somewhat following recent policy announcements; the most significant of which was the return of the previous rent formula from 2020-21 onwards i.e. CPI + 1% for five years. This policy change increased HRA balances by over £104m over the life of the plan.

The subsequent review of the HRA Business Plan for 2018-19 was now focused on achieving:-

·                Contributing to the borough’s housing growth target of 900 homes per annum through building and/ or purchasing new properties.

·                Maintaining and continuing to improve our 20,500 Council homes.

·                Contributing to the development of low cost home ownership products that are needed locally and will play a critical role in Rotherham’s overall economic growth.

·                Continued investment to support the General Fund budget position.

The report further detailed a technical overview of the current position and the reason for changes to the Plan and considered alongside proposed 2018-19 rents, service charges and budgets.

Members requested further information on the options and parameters for Option D within the report, as it was not clear what the rationale was from the information provided. In response, officers confirmed that the HRA Business Plan had been subject to review since the summer of 2017 and various options for modelling the impact of growth and new homes being built. The various options had been tweaked and been subject to external review by consultants. Following on, Members requested more detail on why Option D was the preferred option.  

Members sought further assurance in respect of the Council’s confidence in the private sector to deliver the housing requirement for site clusters. In response, the Cabinet Member for Housing explained that the Council wanted to be in a position where the HRA could invest in housing growth year on year, but the private sector will need to deliver the majority of the housing requirement. The Council would do more than ever to intervene in the market to deliver as much as possible, but the burden would need to be met in the main by the private sector.

Resolved:- 

1.    That Cabinet be advised that the recommendations

2.    That further detail of the options discounted for the Base Case be circulated to OSMB members prior to the Cabinet meeting.