£269 million for Renfrewshire housing

Home > News and Events > News - release archive > 2006 > February

Renfrewshire Council has secured a funding package of around £269million from the Scottish Executive which could transform the housing stock currently owned by the Council.

The money will enable Renfrewshire Housing Association (RHA) to bring tenants’ homes up to standard while keeping rents affordable - if council tenants vote to transfer to RHA in a ballot later this year.

The funding package means:

• the Scottish Executive will provide a subsidy of around £73 million to support RHA’s investment in improving tenants’ homes
• the Treasury will write off Renfrewshire Council’s housing debt and other costs totalling around £175million
• £21 million in ‘early action funding’ from the Scottish Executive which is already being spent on improving housing estates in Renfrewshire

The deal secured by Renfrewshire Council means that RHA will guarantee that rents will not rise more than the rate of inflation for each of the five years after any transfer. RHA will also aim to limit annual rent rises to the rate of inflation +1% per year for the rest of its 30 year business plan.

“We have said all along that the Council would only proceed to the final phase of the stock transfer process if we could put in place a deal which would benefit our current tenants,” said Councillor Iain McMillan, convener of the Council’s housing, environment and community safety policy board.

“This funding package will allow RHA to secure our tenants’ future, invest in upgrading homes, and ensure affordable rents. The Council can’t achieve those aims in any viable way given the massive housing debt which will remain if tenants don’t vote to transfer to RHA. A ‘Yes’ vote in the autumn will avoid significant rent increases in the future.”

“Apart from the support for major investment and affordable rents, the funding package will also maintain community representation in housing policy-making supported by the involvement of tenants on the board of RHA. It’ll be up to tenants to decide in the stock transfer ballot which landlord can best meet their desire for a high quality, lower-rent housing service in the future.”

The next stage is for RHA to finalise a detailed business plan, showing exactly how they would improve homes and how they would run the housing service.

“Overall, this points the way ahead for seeing major improvement in Renfrewshire’s housing and giving tenants all the facts they need to decide on their housing future,” added Councillor McMillan.

In May 2004, Renfrewshire Council decided to consult tenants on the transfer of its entire housing stock to a not-for-profit housing association. Transfer was the only viable way of achieving the Scottish quality housing standard which comes into force in 2015.

Press release: Tuesday 14 February 2006