Investing in council homes consultation

Overview

This is an opportunity to decide our key priorities for providing and maintaining council homes in Bristol for the next 30 years. We want to do this with as much input as possible from residents, councillors, colleagues and other organisations we work with.

We own and manage over 28,500 homes. The rents and service charges collected are used to provide services to the tenants and leaseholders living in these homes. They are also used to repair, maintain, and improve the homes, communal areas, blocks and estates.

We work to a balanced 30-year business plan, to make sure essential services and investments can be provided in the future. There are many challenges in providing and managing our housing, including how we prioritise competing demands for investment that include:

• investing in existing homes, blocks and estates to:
  • make sure buildings are safe and well maintained 
  • improve standards and conditions within individual homes
  • improve standards for communal areas, blocks and estates
  • make homes more energy efficient 
  • reduce carbon emissions
• building new homes to meet housing needs 

We're asking for views on how we prioritise these competing demands. Any increase in costs needs to be funded, through an increase in rents and by borrowing more. We are also asking for views on how we fund any additional costs and investments. Even if we borrow more and increase rents, we still must make difficult choices about what to prioritise as there is a limit to what is affordable. 

There are core services we need to provide to keep our homes safe and well-maintained, and to make sure we manage tenancies and support communities. Much of our future income is committed to delivering these core services and that won’t change.

These services include, but are not limited to: 

• providing a responsive repairs service 
• providing housing management services to support residents to have successful tenancies 
• overhead costs such as HR, IT, office space, legal services and contributions to corporate services such as the Customer Services Centre and Customer Service Point
• maintenance and improvements to homes and blocks:
  • replacing component parts when in poor condition or beyond repair (kitchens, windows, heating systems, roofs)
  • making sure our homes are safe and well maintained 
  • fire safety measures

Find more information on current budgets and anticipated spend across the 30 years business plan.

Why your views matter

Your answers will help Bristol City Council plan the budget for council homes for the next 30 years.

The consultation ends on 3 December and the responses will be taken into consideration in developing final proposals by both Cabinet and Council Members when making their decision.

The final decision on the HRA 30 year budget will be made at a full council meeting in February 2022.