Rent & Affordability Survey 2024
There are lots of ways for you to have your say, using the online option below by clicking the button, by phoning us, or via a text we will send out or you can drop in to our Little Shed community hub on Friday 8th November between 11.00am and 1.00pm to get in-person assistance with our colleagues.
As in previous years, as part of our rent setting process, we have been considering lots of information about our homes like property size and type, household income and the energy efficiency of our homes to get a better understanding of how affordable our rents are. We will use this information to identify tenants who may potentially be struggling more than others to pay their rent due to their housing situation, or types of homes where the rent may be less affordable e.g. single people living in one bedroom flats. This will inform our final decision on our Rent Policy from April 2025.
Whilst we haven’t decided yet what the new rent will be, it is likely that there will be an increase. This is to ensure that we can continue to provide all of the services that we currently provide and continue to maintain our homes.
Understanding your views and experiences are really important in helping us to decide on what the new rent should be and to understand whether you feel the actions we are taking to support you to pay your rent and manage any increase are enough. We will use your feedback to shape our services and to inform our investment decisions.
We use income from rents to pay for the services that we provide and the cost of maintaining and repairing homes. This includes improving energy efficiency of homes and helping to them more affordable to heat. This year we would also like your feedback on how we should prioritise our investment in 2024/25.
We will need completed surveys to be returned to us by 18th November 2024 so that a final decision on our Rent Policy can be made and approved by our Board of Management in December. You will be advised of any changes to your rent by the end of January 2025 and any change to your rent will be applied from April 2025.
In order to decide how much rents need to increase by we consider all of the costs of providing services and repairs and maintenance to homes and we also complete a detailed assessment of the affordability of our rents for our tenants to understand which homes might be most affected by a rent increase.
We know that everyone is continuing to experience an increase in the cost of living, for example the cost of food, fuel, and utility bills and that the affordability of our rent is very important in the context of this.
Unfortunately, these cost increases also affect housing associations and the cost of delivering our services and maintaining our homes to the same level has also increased for example cost of materials and ensuring all our homes are well maintained and safe in line with existing and new legislation.