Housing Executive responds to rents announcement
The Housing Executive has noted the DfC announcement that its rents for domestic dwellings are to increase by 7.7%, effective from 1st April 2024.
This equates to an average increase of £5.72 in weekly rents and will bring the average rent for a Housing Executive home to £79.96 a week, excluding rates.
Each tenant will receive a letter over the next few weeks advising of their new rent charges, and what they need to do.
Approximately 79% of Housing Executive tenants receive full or partial Housing Benefit support or Universal Credit towards their rent.
Grainia Long, Chief Executive, said;
“Rent pays for customer and neighbourhood services as well as all maintenance of our homes and improvement work. It has never been more important that we continue to invest in our homes and provide services to tenants. The rent increase will go straight back into our houses and our customer services.
"This year we are spending £204m maintaining and improving our homes for our tenants and this increase will enable an increase in investment to approximately £288m next year.
“We are very much aware of the ongoing financial pressures faced by our tenants, and have increased the size of our financial inclusion team to ensure we have the right support in place.
"We encourage any tenant who is having difficulty paying their rent, to contact us immediately for assistance and advice. We would also reassure tenants that we will only take legal action in circumstances where rent is not fully paid and a tenant refuses to engage with us.
"We have included details of how to get in touch and the help available in our letter to each tenant.”