Issue - meetings

It was noted that in accordance with council procedure rule 17.6, a recorded vote would  be taken on the motion or any amendments and substantive motions. 

It was proposed by Councillor Yates and seconded by Councillor Whitehead that: 

1. That the HRA budget for 2024/25 is approved; 

2. That the revised Housing Revenue Account capital programme (Annex for 2024- 28 is approved; 

3. That the HRA business plan is noted.

The Monitoring Officer conducted a recorded vote on the motion as follows: 

32 Councillors voted in favour of the motion. 

Councillors Albon, Ara, Austin, Boyd, J. Bright, K. Bright, Britcher, Crittenden, Currie,  D’Abbro, Donaldson, Duckworth, Edwards, Everitt, Farooki, Garner, Green, Keen,  Makinson, Matterface, Pat Moore, Munns, Nixey, Ovenden, Owen-Hughes, Packman,  Pope, H. Scobie, W. Scobie, Smith, Whitehead and Yates. 

16 Councillors abstained from the motion. 

Councillors Bayford, Braidwood, Davis, Dawson, Dennis, Fellows, Kup, Paul Moore,  Pugh, Rattigan, Rogers, Rusiecki, Scott, Towning, Worrow and Wright. 

The motion was AGREED.

Matt Sanham introduced the report and said that Cabinet had agreed on an ambitious housing development programme, which now needed to be funded through the annual budget allocation.

Councillor Whitehead made the following comments:

• In order to explain the rent structure and context of the HRA budget further, it was important to look at what was currently being delivered and what needed to be delivered in terms of capacity;
• TDC used two forms of rental rate within the general housing stock; social rent and affordable rent;
• The Council’s version of affordable rent was very different from the central government definition, which generally defined affordable rent as being up to 80% of private rental rates. For Thanet, that would be far from affordable. TDC therefore used a dual definition; affordable housing was classed as up to 80% of private rent, but not to exceed Local Housing Allowance rate (which historically for this area never met 80% of the private rental market). Simply, Thanet’s affordable housing would never go above Local Housing Allowance;
• The vast majority of the Council’s housing stock was at social rent; social rent was a lower rent than affordable rent, and much lower than private market rent;
• At a social rent, a three bed house would cost approximately £452.52 per month; at TDC affordable rent, it would cost approximately £704 per month;
• On the private market, three bed homes were currently renting at between £1,100 and £1,600 per month;

• The current Local Housing Allowance rate for a three bed house was £797.81, meaning that for both forms of rental that TDC offer would be more than covered by housing benefit/universal credit, making both accessible for even the most vulnerable or disadvantaged residents. It was worth noting that the vast majority of individuals who rely on LHA to afford their housing were currently trapped within the private rental market. This was one of the principal reasons for creating and adopting the accelerated delivery programme, as the most disadvantaged residents in terms of housing affordability (and therefore cost of living) were currently within the private sector; to help them the Council had to expand its provision;
• In April the Council was also likely to see a significant increase in the LHA rate; in all likelihood this would mean that even the affordable rental would fall within the mid range of LHA; 
• The Council portfolio currently consisted of 3,460 properties; only 165 of these were at an affordable rent; the rest were let at social rent. The vast majority of the residents had access to support with rental costs through housing benefit or the housing element of universal credit, and therefore any increase was covered by benefits in those cases;
• Each year, councils were permitted to raise rents, with the addition of 1% to the Consumer Price Index. This September CPI stood at 6.7%; which meant that Councils were permitted to raise rents by 7.7%. Information received from 19 other Councils regarding their rent increase this year indicated that all were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29

Report to follow

Members discussed the HRA budget for 2024/25 and confirmed that next year’s HRA budget was underpinned by a 7.7% increase in rents next year, representing CPI (as at September) + 1%. The majority of which would be covered by increased benefit or Universal Credit payments to Council tenants. This rent increase was needed to continue to drive the HRA to a balanced and sustainable financial position, and also to finance the Council’s ambitious house building programme and housing investment plan. The Council did not have rents that were above the Local Housing Allowance levels.

Through consultation with the Portfolio Holder, there had been a change in the budget since the draft was presented to Cabinet in October, this being the creation of a Hardship Fund. This fund ensured that £30k was allocated to assist those tenants on a low income who may be struggling to meet the rent or associated service charges levied. The criteria of the fund would be developed and published by the Tenant and Leasehold team to ensure that these specific tenants were supported.

Councillor Rattigan spoke under Council Procedure Rule 20.1.

Councillor Yates proposed Councillor Albon seconded and Cabinet agreed the following:

1.  That the HRA budget for 2024/25 be recommended to Council for approval;

2.  That the revised Housing Revenue Account capital programme (Annex 1) for 2024-28 be recommended to Council for approval.