More council houses to be built in Hartlepool - but rents will increase

Currently Hartlepool Borough Council owns and manages 300 properties after investing in social housing and reopening its Housing Revenue Account (HRA) in 2016.

Council chiefs said they will look to add an additional 18 properties in 2020/21 and 164 by 2024/25.

This will be funded by a 2.7% rent increase for existing properties in 2020/21 to make the HRA ‘more sustainable and support additional capital investment in additional housing units’, which would not be possible without the increase.

This will result in an average weekly rent increase of £2.22 for a two bed property and £2.45 for a three bed property.

The government will also provide additional funding for housing benefit and universal credit tenants to meet the rent increase, meaning approximately two thirds of tenants will have all or part of the increase funded for them.

All six other North East council’s with a HRA account are also proposing a 2.7% increase in rent according to officers, in line with CPI inflation and government guidelines.

Hartlepool Borough Council Finance and Policy Committee approved the HRA budget and financial business plan going forward.

Coun Shane Moore, council leader, said the plan marks a ‘huge investment in the town and the local economy’ in the coming years.

He said: “Looking forward it’s important in my opinion for us to deliver good quality homes for our residents and we have the opportunity to do that as a council.

“Especially when you see the state of some of the privately rented accommodation out there at the moment. We have the opportunity to provide secure homes for life for Hartlepool people and that’s an opportunity we can’t really miss.”

Coun Christopher Akers-Belcher had raised concerns over the rent increase and called for the council to gain the funding from other means.

He said: “It sits uneasy with me that we are advocating a rent increase on top of growing our stock.

“It may only seem like £2 a week, but when you look at that on top of council tax. I think it’s a big ask.”

Chris Little, council director of finance and policy, said the council would not be able to deliver the scale of growth without the funding.

He said: “It’s a very similar argument to council tax, the housing revenue account has to generate its own income, the only source is rent income, it operates in the real world, it’s exposed to inflation.

“There might be other sources, but they are not yet delivered and that might take a few years to come through.”

The plans for new homes also include recently revealed proposals for 18 new build houses on land owned by the council on Hill View in Greatham.

As of September 2019 £12.184million of external investment has funded the strategy, with a further £9million from borrowing, which will be repaid from rents.