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Posted: Thu 16th Jan 2025
Wrexham Council will seek approval from the Executive Board for a five-year, £197m investment programme in social housing next week.
The proposed budget includes £54.2million to maintain or fix-up empty residential properties – of which there are currently 168 out of around 11,000 social housing properties across the county borough.
It also includes £17.5m for build and buy – the council’s programme of new build housing and purchasing of existing housing stock for social tenants in addition to funding to renew kitchens, bathrooms, roofs, windows and doors and other maintenance costs.
If this budget is approved, the council will spend over £12m a year on empty properties over the next two years, over £10m a year for the following two years and over £9m in 2029/30 – a quarter of the five-year budget it will ask the Executive Board to approve next Tuesday.
Challenged on the size of expenditure on empty homes, deputy leader of Wrexham Council and Lead Member for Housing and Climate Change David Bithell defended the proposal.
“Over the last two or three years we have increased what we spend on empty properties,” he said. “But we have done that to reduce the number of empty properties from 520 to – the latest figure we had was 168 last week. It’s come down dramatically.
“We are aware that there is still work to do. We have reduced the maintenance standard to try to manage the cost and to turn homes around quicker, so that once the keys are handed back any essential works are done faster so that new tenants can move in.
“But it is challenging as the costs of goods and services has increased. There will always be empty properties because, as one of the largest landlords ion Wales, we have a massive turnover because of how many homes we manage.
“It’s constantly like a hamster wheel. People give keys back, move out, move into homes or move into the county and join the waiting list. Properties constantly have to be turned around.”
Next year Wrexham also proposes increasing social housing rent by 2.7% – the maximum allowed by Welsh Government – significantly lower than last year’s 6.7% increase.
“We can only increase social housing rent based on what the Welsh Government caps it at,” said Cllr Bithell.
Council Leader Mark Pritchard said despite the budget proposal, work was continuing to identify savings, particularly with regard empty homes.
“It’s a fair challenge,” he said. “We have to get better. We can always improve and I believe there is still room for improvement between when the keys are handed back and a new tenant moves in. I know there is money that can be saved and David is looking into that.
“Our plan is to invest to keep our council properties up to standard and improve accommodation for tenants. Previous administrations took the rent and didn’t invest in social housing stock.
“These tenants pay rent and they have a right to first-class, quality property. People I think forget that these are people’s homes.”
The budget will be considered by the Executive Board on Tuesday, January 21.
By Alec Doyle – BBC Local Democracy Reporter
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