Kirklees Council is undertaking a project to look at the future of council housing. This has been prompted by several factors, including a government review of council house funding and a recognition that our customers' needs may change in the future.

The council owns over 23,000 homes, making housing one of its biggest and most valuable assets. However, over the last 25 years, the role of social housing has changed and so too have our customers. These changes are likely to increase over the next 25 years.

This means that we need to think now about the long-term future for council housing by looking at:

• Finance - how housing services will be funded
• Service needs - who will be our future customers and what will they need
• Asset management - how will we repair and maintained our homes
• Options appraisal - what kind of housing service will best meet the needs of our customers
• Consultation and involvement - how we will make sure people are involved in the review

The debate about these issues started in September 2009, with a successful tenants' conference that explored how tenants would like to see housing services develop.

This work involves consulting with thousands of council tenants and includes a questionnaire.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the questionnaire in the January 2010 edition of Home Truths or in Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing's Door to Door newsletter or through Choose 'n' Move. We are in the process of collating your responses.

The Housing Futures programme is picking up pace and nearly 300 people have already responded to our questionnaire.

• Two thirds (66%) of people who responded would be prepared to pay more rent but it would depend on the services on offer.
• Respondents rated a safe area, repairs and maintenance, a pleasant area and an affordable rent as important to them.
• Community involvement and parking were also important.
• Between 246 and 212 of people who completed a questionnaire believed their rent should pay for repairs and maintenance, a safe area and a pleasant area.

Our tenants said the top 5 most important things to them are
A safe area to live, good repairs and maintenance, a pleasant area to live in, affordable rent and support for vulnerable people. We will use the feedback you have given to develop more detailed consultation work with our tenants around your housing needs.

Options
We need to consider our future council housing tenants and how we allocate and manage the stock to improve people's life chances. In order to make sure that the council is making best use of this asset and that tenants are receiving the best possible services we are building on the consultation results. The programme team are investigating a range of possible options for future management and ownership of these properties that consider tenants' needs in the future. They also take into account service needs, financial models, and property condition.

The future
Most of the funding for the management and maintenance of council housing comes from the Housing Revenue Account (HRA). The HRA is the council's landlord account and is ring-fenced for this purpose.

We are waiting for the results of the recent Government HRA consultation that will outline the financial implications for Kirklees. This will feed into the options for housing futures and will reflect the individual implications that the reform would have. The Localism Bill, due out in October 2010 will highlight how the HRA reform will be taken forward. The comprehensive spending review which is also to be published in October 2010 will set the context for housing finance.

We are continuing to carry out extensive work to look at the various options and provide a detailed case to Councillors in autumn 2010. We will continue to consult and involve residents.

Information about how council housing in Kirklees is currently managed by Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing.

KNH Achievements (PDF 159kb)

You can also email any questions or feedback you have about the housing futures project to housing.futures@kirklees.gov.uk