Housing debt set to soar to £170 million in York

The York Council is set to increase its total debt as it embarks on a programme of new Council house building. Existing tenants will bear the brunt of the interest payments on the new borrowing with rents set to increase.

After the early peak total debt levels will reduce unless new projects are approved.

The figures are revealed in a new Housing Revenue Account strategy being discussed on Thursday.

While the new strategy recognises the need to continue to modernise existing Council houses only modest investment is planned for improvements to public services on Council estates.

The housing department has been criticised in recent years for losing contact with with tenants. This was exacerbated a few years ago when several tenants representative organisations were wound up.

The Councils own, very selective figures, show a steady decline in tenant satisfaction levels

By the end of the 30 year plan period, tenants will be paying £13 million a year to service the debt (interest and principal repayments).

The housing strategy will be discussed at a meeting being held on Thursday

New estate maintenance system failing

Litter is a common sight on many estates these days

The Councils decision, about a year ago, to stop the estate worker maintenance system, has resulted in a noticeable decline in standards.

The old system – where an identified individual took responsibility for the appearance of communal areas in Council estates – worked reasonably well.

In an attempt to save money, the system was replaced using a couple of teams of mobile workers. They have struggled to maintain standards. The amount of litter on the streets has noticeably increased in many estates.

The Council didn’t need to make economies on the provision of this essential service.

The surplus on the Council housing account last year was £4 million and it has a current positive balance of over £24 million on the account.

Backing for York Council housing – stock transfer option to be abandoned

LibDem policy to buy more homes for rent on open market also set to be adopted

A major new report on the York Councils Housing Revenue Account is set to be debated next week.

There are two pieces of good news in it.

First the Council is set to abandon its plans to hive off its Council housing to an “Arm’s Length Management Organisation”. The justification for this always seemed very fragile and recent revelations about the way in which some of these “ALMOs” have operated would have been enough to cause a rethink. The Grenfell Towers Inquiry may reveal even more.

Now claims that the government would continue to force down Council house rents, making the housing account unviable, have proved to be groundless.

Similarly, a government threat, to make Council’s sell off high value Council Houses when they became vacant, has also been struck into the long grass.

The Council said, when it originally announced the review, that it would spend £200,000 on consultants. The report doesn’t reveal how much of that budget has been spent. Hopefully not much

Perhaps even more importantly, a Liberal Democrat policy favouring increasing the number of Council homes available in the City, is about to be adopted.

The Council will use a £20 million fund to purchase empty properties on the open market. Most of this money will come from the accumulated profit currently showing on the housing account. New “right to buy” receipts will also be used.

Some former Council houses will be repurchased while other empty properties may also be brought into use.

This was the policy so bitterly opposed by Labour when they were in office in the City between 2011 and 2015. Prices were lower then, so more might have been achieved if an initiative had been taken more quickly.

How precisely the £20m fund will be managed is unclear. Hopefully it will not be used as an excuse for a risky cavalier foray into housing development.

Full marks though to the Council’s Executive for at least trying to address the housing problems in the City.

York Councils profit on housing soars to £4.3 million in one year

Hidden away in the York Council’s accounts is an admission that the 2016/17 in year surplus on its housing revenue account was £4.3 million.

That is much higher than the budgeted figure (£3 million).

Officials continue to parrot familiar justifications for the profit. These include a bogus assumption that the present governments rent reduction formulae will continue (a ploy aimed at reducing the central housing benefit bill) and even mention the now discredited proposal to sell off high value Council houses. The latter was kicked into the long grass even before the Tories suffered their General Election setback.

So, does it matter that the surplus on the housing account is relatively high now standing at £22.7 million?

It certainly does to tenants.

Poor maintenance issues continue to be a problem with no proactive management of communal areas. Too many of our estates are now literally overgrown with routine maintenance programmes having been all but abandoned (although the tenant’s choice modernisation programmes continue to run on schedule)

The report to the Council’s Executive also confirms that there have been delays in updating fire assessment work – an uncomfortable admission after recent events in London and confirmation of what we found when visiting some flats last weekend.