More money could be available to spend on council housing in Exeter if plans to change the way social housing is funded are given the go ahead.
Members of Exeter City Council’s Executive are being asked to back a move to make council housing in Exeter self-financing.
Under the current system, the government receives almost 30 per cent of Exeter’s rent revenue to subsidise housing in other parts of the country. This limits the amount of work Exeter is able to undertake modernising its housing stock.
A move to a self-financing system would mean that the council could keep and reinvest all its rent revenue as well as capital receipts from the sale of council homes and land. In return the council would have to take onboard a small amount of the national housing debt, which would be paid back over a number of years.
Cllr Laura Newton, Lead Councillor for Housing and Social Inclusion, said making the switch would be good news for everyone in Exeter.
“It’s a win win situation,” she said. “Making the move to self-financing would save the council nearly £1 million and allow us to spend more on maintaining and improving our homes as well as investing in new council developments. It would mean we could take control of our own destiny.”
The report goes to the city council’s Executive on Tuesday, June 29 and if given the go-ahead, council housing in Exeter could be self-financing by next year.
(from a press release)
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