Agenda item

Report of the Director of Finance

 

This report summarises the financial position of the Housing Revenue Account and the draft recommendations on rent and service charges to be made to the Cabinet in January 2023.

 

The report also seeks the views of the DMCs on the draft recommendations.

 

The DMCs will retire to the following rooms to discuss the budget proposals separately:

 

Gospel Oak            - Council Chamber

Hampstead             - Committee Room 1

Camden Town        - Committee Room 2

Kentish Town          - Committee Room 3

Holborn                   - Committee Room 5

 

At 8.00pm the DMCs will be recalled to report the outcomes from their respective meetings if they wish.

 

Passing of Lidia Venegas

 

The meeting held a one minute silence regarding the passing of Lidia Venegas a homeless person who had sadly died in Kentish Town.

 

Consideration was then given to the report of the Director of Finance and Emma Cardoso, Team Leader (HRA and Capital Projects) took the meeting through the report and the supplementary information, as part of a briefing for all DMC representatives.

 

Meeting separately, Kentish Town DMC members considered the budget proposals for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), set out at Appendix D.

 

Consideration was given to the proposed rent increase.

 

Members of the DMC were not in favour of the rent increase, which they stated was too steep. The meeting considered that a rent increase alongside an increase in service charges would mean that most people would be worse off. Furthermore, people were already faced with an increased cost of living, some residents will be forced into poverty.

 

The DMC was concerned that those who were not in receipt of benefit or entitled to financial help would bear the burden of the increase and that the various increases should be seen as a whole, because it would amount to a huge financial burden when all the increases were added together.

 

Furthermore, many tenants and residents had not received a pay increase and could not afford the proposed rent, service charges and heating pool increases which would only lead to more tenants and residents being pushed into arrears and having to use services, such as food banks and warm hubs at a cost to the Council.

 

Whilst The DMC acknowledged that the Council was facing budgetary pressures, it had not provided accurate data to justify its budgetary proposals, which was something that the DMC had asked for on a number of occasions.

 

As the Government had initially recommended a 5% increase, the DMC felt that this was a more appropriate increase.

 

On being put to the vote, it was

 

RESOLVED –

 

i)               THAT the Kentish Town District Management Committee do not recommend the 7% rent increase.

ii)              THAT the Kentish Town District Management Committee instead recommend an increase of 5%

iii)            That Kentish Town District Management Committee request that Camden Council campaign for Central Government to increase funding for local authorities.

 

 

Following a vote, it was

 

RESOLVED –

 

THAT the Kentish Town District Management Committee recommend that the caretaking service charge be increased by 54p.

 

Following a vote, it was

 

RESOLVED –

 

THAT the Kentish Town District Management Committee recommend that the CCTV service charge be increased by 5p.

DMC Representatives discussed whether the communal lighting charge should be increased when energy reduction measures, such as LED lights and sensor activated lighting had not been invested in. As such, the meeting agreed to the charge increase on the condition that a programme investing in energy use reduction commenced. 

Following a vote, it was

 

RESOLVED –

 

THAT the Kentish Town District Management Committee recommend:

 

i)               That the communal lighting service charge be increased; and

ii)              A programme of installing sensor lighting, LED lighting and other energy use saving measures be implemented.

Following a vote, it was

 

RESOLVED –

 

THAT the Kentish Town DMC recommend that that the communal M&E Maintenance service charge be increased by 13p.

DMC Representatives were dissatisfied with the contractors who undertook this service and requested that Camden Council stop using contractors and resume providing this service directly.  

 

Following a vote, it was

 

RESOLVED –

 

THAT the Kentish Town District Management Committee recommend:

 

i)      That the grounds maintenance service charge be increased by 15p per week; and

ii)     That the Grounds Maintenance service is provided directly by Camden Council.

On being put to the vote, it was

 

RESOLVED –

 

THAT the Kentish Town DMC recommend that the responsive housing patrol service charge be increased by 3p per week.

 

A DMC Representative stated that they were not of the view that garages were a necessity, like the other service charges, therefore rents should be raised more that £2 per week. Furthermore, it was suggested that the garage rents should be more in line with commercially available garages, some of which cost as much as £99 per week. The meeting discussed raising the garage rents by as much as £10 a week and making the service a semi-commercial enterprise.

 

Some DMC Representatives disagreed however, as there had been an increase in car break ins, so garages were essential for the security of resident’s cars.

On being put to the vote, it was

 

RESOLVED –

 

THAT the Kentish Town District Management Committee recommend the garage rents be increased by more than £2 per week. 

The meeting also considered an addendum to the report, which outlined three options for the heating pool charges. Officers advised that additional funding had been sourced, which would provide one off credit to residents to be used towards heating pool charges.

 

RESOLVED –

 

THAT the Kentish Town DMC recommend that the heating pool charge be increased by 175% but with one-off credit to limit the increase to 125%.