Cabinet meets to talk housing finance

As one of the largest social landlords in the country, with 55,000 households, control over finance plays a key role for an authority, especially one which manages all its own stock. The council is asking the government to take into account the breadth of work needed on social housing of this scale and complexity. The council is asking that the government consider a number of factors including

• how the council should finance what it considers to be a decent home, including the provision and maintenance of working lifts and communal areas
  
• restructuring the council's housing debt to take advantage of low interest rates and pay off historical debt
  
• the need for greater control over the setting of rents
  
• the need to continue to address leaseholders' concerns about affordability by not making sinking funds mandatory.

More control over the council's housing finances would give it the freedom to manage money and investment where it is needed.

Councillor Ian Wingfield, cabinet member for housing said, "We have to get the fundamentals of housing finance right in order to set the service up to run smoothly for years to come. The challenges of the recession, funding cuts, and targets for - and definition of - decent homes need to be addressed.

"We must ensure that improvements to the service are financially viable, so that residents receive a good service, and that money is spent wisely on what matters to them. To address all of this, we are asking for greater control over the money we need to spend on housing in this borough."

View the full agenda and papers.