Content

11.1

The
Director of Housing and Neighbourhood Services introduced the
report which provided Members with an update on the budget setting
process for the revenue budgets within the remit of the Housing
Policy Committee. It specifically set out details of the pressures
facing the Housing Policy Committee in 2024/25 and asked Members to
consider how to mitigate those pressures in meeting their
obligations to recommend a balanced budgetary position to the
Strategy and Resources committee. The report also included
proposals for endorsing a rent increase for Council tenants to the
Strategy and Resources committee and subsequently Full Council in
February 2024.
 

11.2

RESOLVED
UNANIMOUSLY: That
the Housing Policy Committee:-

1.    
Notes the Housing Revenue Account and Housing
General Fund savings proposals/mitigations as set out in this
report and that they will be presented to the Strategy and
Resources Committee as part of the Council’s budget for
2024/25.

2.    
Request a further report on the Housing Revenue
Account Business plan at their December meeting with details of the
full capital and revenue expenditure proposals for
2024/25.

3.    
Notes and endorses for onward work by officers the
proposal for a 7.7% rent increase for council tenants in line with
the government’s Rent Standard and acknowledge that the final
decision on council housing rents will be taken at the Full Council
in February.

11.3

Reasons for
Decision

11.3.1

Members
are asked to note the unsustainable financial position highlighted
by the medium-term financial analysis presented to Strategy and
Resources Committee in September 2023. This report and its
recommendations, sets out the scale of the challenge ahead, the
limited resources available and the difficult decisions that now
need to be taken to deliver a balanced HRA and HGF budget for
2024/25.

11.4

Alternatives Considered and
Rejected

11.4.1

The
Council is required to both set a balanced HRA and GF budget and to
ensure that in-year income and expenditure are balanced. No other
alternatives were considered.