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Housing hopes for future
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| Saturday 27th March 2010 |
The current housing funding system is felt by councils to be unfair and Norwich City Council welcomes this week’s announcement of plans to dismantle it.
The government has just announced plans to dismantle the current system of funding council housing in 177 local authority areas, including Norwich.
Under the current system, Norwich City Council pays the government all the rents collected (£48m) and receives, in return, grants for managing and maintaining the housing stock and for the costs of previous borrowing (£43m). This leaves a £5m deficit.
In March of last year, councillors Brenda Arthur and Brian Morrey, along with the chair and then vice-chair of Norwich Tenants’ CityWide Board, joined other local government representatives and tenants in a lobby for fairer funding.
The government has announced a new self-financing system that will mean councils will keep all the rent they collect from homes and all receipts from any sales of houses or land. In return, councils will accept a share of an additional £3.56bn debt.
Norwich will be able to repay this debt from the rents that we will now keep, and in time spend surplus rent income on improving homes and services, as well as building new council houses. The details of what Norwich’s share will be, however, are not yet known and are expected soon.
Councillor Brenda Arthur, executive member for housing and adult services says: “We wholeheartedly welcome the news that the government has listened to very real concerns of councils and tenants and scrap this unfair system.
At first glance this looks like fantastic news for the city and we eagerly await the details of what is being proposed to work these through with our tenants and make sure we get the best deal for them”.
Geoff Lowe, chair of Norwich Tenants’ CityWide Board says: “Norwich tenants, like those across the country, have campaigned against the unfair system that sees some of our money going to the government as a subsidy.
What the new deal means exactly is not yet fully clear but if it means all the money stays in Norwich to be invested in Norwich tenants' priorities this can only be a good thing”. |
| Posted by Kim for Norwich City Council |
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