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housing news for Winchester City Council tenants and leaseholders
Government to Change Funding of Council Housing? City Councillors will be meeting at the end of June to consider plans announced by the Government for a reform of council house finances. Councils have until July to respond to proposals replacing the existing housing revenue account (HRA) subsidy system – in which Winchester pays £9 million a year – with a scheme that would leave Winchester with a debt of £156 million. The new Government says it is committed to reforming the current HRA subsidy system and will consider all responses before supporting the proposals. Under the proposed new scheme, councils could retain all rent income in return for taking on a share of the national housing debt. The City Council would be expected to take on more debt per property than most, because rents are high and assumed costs are low compared to other areas.
It would mean more money for managing housing in Winchester – just about enough to maintain the Decent Homes standard in future years – but many Winchester tenants would still have to accept kitchens and bathrooms over 30 years old. The deal on offer does not match the value for money that could be achieved through a transfer to a housing association or tenant management organisation, which could provide far more resources to fund tenants’ services. However, Winchester’s tenants are strongly opposed to any option that separates the housing service from the Council and so the Government offer will be considered very seriously by councillors. For more informaton please contact free phone 0800 716 987 or email your views to housing@winchester.gov.uk The Council will continue to argue for a better deal for Winchester and will provide more information on this in future editions of on the house.
Tenant News, produced by Tenants efor d iTenants t i o n 1can be found at the back of this edition
Congratulations to Bernie and Helen Sheppard, from Alresford, who won our on the house survey competition. Their name was picked out of the hat to win £50 in Love2Shop vouchers. The couple are keen gardeners and former winners of the Best Front Garden. Full results of our on the house survey on page 2.
inside this edition: G G G G G G
Making a difference New housing standards You said. We did Stanmore spring clean Get gardening Property Repairs 2010/11
edition
17
June 2010