Decent Homes funding delay announcement

Our investment plans to improve the housing stock have had to be revised following an announcement by Government about the funding of Decent Homes.

We have asked for an additional £44 million of funding on top of our existing budgets to be able to make sure every council home in the Borough achieves the Government’s Decent Homes Standard by the end of 2013.

The Department for Communities and Local Government had previously assured Charnwood Borough Council that it would get at least £36 million of this once we received a two-star rating in our Audit Commission inspection that takes place in February 2010. A plan had already been drawn up on how that money was going to be spent on your homes.

In July 2009 Charnwood Borough Council was one of 11 councils informed that the Decent Homes funding would not be allocated until April 2011 and possibly later.

This means that if we are successful at Inspection there will be a 12 month delay in us receiving the additional money we need to provide new kitchens and bathrooms, increase energy efficiency with the installation of new double glazed windows, install new central heating systems and undertake electrical rewiring. There are 1,868 homes in the Borough that need these improvements.

This does not mean that no Decent Homes work will take place before April 2011, just that the amount of work we can undertake will be significantly less than we had hoped and our tenants were expecting. The revised programme can be viewed by clicking here.

It is also important to note that any necessary repairs will still be done as usual.

Cllr John Bush, Lead Member for Housing and Health, said:

"This decision by the Government is a huge disappointment for our tenants in Charnwood who should be living in homes that are up to decent standards. The Council and CNH are working closely together to make sure that we do all that we can to secure this funding as quickly as possible, and in the meantime we will continue to make whatever improvements we can with our own budgets."

Charnwood Neighbourhood Housing still need to make sure we achieve a two star Inspection rating, but we are also working with other Council’s and ALMOs affected alongside the Local Government Association and the National Federation of ALMOs to lobby for the decision to be reversed.