The Housing, Planning and Development Scrutiny Panel meeting will include reports on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Business Plan and Budget for 2025/26, as well as confirming the minutes of the meeting that took place on 5 November 2024. The papers describe the HRA and explain how the proposed budget and business plan allows the council to manage and maintain its existing housing stock and build new council homes.

Housing Revenue Account Business Plan and Budget 2025/26

The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Business Plan and Budget for 2025/26 sets out how Haringey Council will manage its housing stock over the next 30 years. It is anticipated that the budget will be discussed at a meeting of the council's cabinet on 11 February 2025, and presented to the full council for approval on 3 March 2025. The report describes the main sources of income to the HRA as being rents and service charges. The report pack contains information about the government's 'formula' for calculating social housing rents. This is a complex formula that uses average rents, local earnings, property values and the number of bedrooms in a property to calculate what the rent should be. The government also sets upper limits on how much rent can be increased in any one year.

The national formula for setting social rent is intended to enable Local Authorities to set rents at a level that allows them to meet their obligations to their tenants, maintain their stock (to at least Decent Homes Standard) and continue to operate a financially viable HRA, including meeting their borrowing commitments. The report proposes an increase in average rents of 2.7% for existing tenants. The report pack also proposes an increase of between 0 and 31% for different service charges. The Council’s policy is to fully recover the cost of providing a service to tenants. The report also contains details about how the council intends to meet its commitment to ensure that all of its housing stock meets the Decent Homes Standard¹ by the end of 2028. The report pack sets out how a recent stock condition survey showed that the council needs to invest £110 million by the end of 2028 to meet the Decent Homes Standard. The report says that over the next three years the council is planning to invest £10 million in a range of energy efficiency improvements like insulation and ventilation to 289 homes on the Coldfall Estate in Muswell Hill, partly funded by a £1.7 million grant from the government's Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. The report also mentions the council's plan to build 3,000 new council homes by 2031. The report mentions several large developments:

• Hale Wharf, which will provide 191 new council homes.
• Ashley Road Depot, which will provide 272 new council homes.
• St. Ann's, which will provide 131 new council homes.
• The Mecca Bingo site, which will provide 78 new council homes.

The report also mentions the council's plan to acquire 100 properties to use as temporary accommodation.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The report pack contains the minutes for the meeting of the Housing, Planning and Development Scrutiny Panel that took place on 5th November 2024. They were presented for approval at the meeting on 16 December 2024. The main topic of discussion was a series of presentations by several Housing Associations who operate in Haringey. The minutes record that representatives from the following Housing Associations attended the meeting:

• Hornsey Housing Trust
• Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing
• L&Q
• Peabody
• Clarion

The minutes record a suggestion by the panel that Ward Councillors should be invited to attend estate walkabouts alongside housing association staff. The minutes record that the panel sought, and received, assurances about how often council officers met with Housing Associations. The minutes also record a request from the panel that a list of contact details for Housing Associations operating in the borough be circulated to them. The minutes also record a discussion about the new consumer standards being introduced by the Regulator for Social Housing. The minutes record that the panel requested an update on the number of void properties in both the Housing and Community Benefit Society and the Housing Revenue Account. The minutes record that a new contractor had been appointed to bring void properties back into use.