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Agenda item

HRA Business Plan - A Presentation by Corporate Director of Housing

Minutes:

Maxine Holdsworth, Director of Corporate Housing was present for discussion of this item and outlined the presentation, copy interleaved

 

During discussion the following items were raised

 

·       HRA – All Council’s with housing stock must maintain a separate account for the responsibilities as a landlord. This account is ringfenced and can only be used for income and expenditure on things related to being a landlord. All capital and revenue expenditure on landlord services is contained within the HRA. There is a 30 year business plan and it must balance over the 30 years. Gross Budget HRA 2020/21 £223m, Income £223m

·       Business Plan – ensure as a landlord able to manage costs of both longer term investment and day to day management of stock, reviewed annually, on a yearly basis income and expenditure will not always match and reserves are built up to provide support in those years where higher investment needed. Budget agreed annually at Council

·       Income derived from rents and service charges, leaseholder charges, PFI credits, Right to Buy receipts, Income from New Build

·       Expenditure – Investment in existing homes and building new homes, day to day repairs and maintenance, management of tenancies, Service delivery overheads, PFI contract costs, maintaining estates and non-housing assets, interest on debt held

·       HRA Business Planning – Key factors – majority of income comes from tenants rents and leaseholder service charges. Rents are regulated by Social Housing Regulator and Government. Leaseholders charges must accurately reflect amounts spent by Council on maintaining, managing homes and estates and service costs

·       Spending drivers – investment need, day to day repairs and maintenance, homes management, tenancy management, ASB, housing related support

·       In order to predict income and expenditure over 30 years assumptions are built into the plan – borrowing is not repaid during the life of the Business Plan, new build schemes need to be self-sustaining, income needs to be maximised, and assumptions are updated annually

·       Key pressures on plan – UC has reduced ability to collect rent, return of PFI2 results in reduced income as PFI credits come to an end, investment in stock has to be accommodated by the business plan, expected changes to fire safety requirements, investment in energy efficiency

·       Schemes have been affected by lockdown, however budget for improvements on existing estates is £38.7m

·       Noted that Islington has the second highest proportion of Council housing in London

·       Planned that all new build properties would be zero carbon

·       A Member expressed concern of a perception of two tiers of social housing developing in the borough, nice new build adjacent to older social housing  often in poor condition, particularly in high rise blocks. It was stated that new build and older stock were facilitated by different budgets, and that consideration needed to be given in the cyclical programme to prioritisation of schemes on older blocks

·       In response to a question it was stated that the new procurement strategy placed more emphasis on social value when awarding contracts, with at least 20% being awarded on social value

 

RESOLVED:

That the presentation be noted and a 6 month progress report be submitted to the Committee on the Business Plan

 

The Chair thanked Maxine Holdsworth for her presentation