Milton Keynes Council has today published a 30 year business plan that sets out ambitions to keep its properties and estates in better condition, build more council homes in the borough, and offer more support to tenants to sustain their tenancies.
£225m on repairs and improvements
MK Council owns around one in six homes in the borough, which means more than 11,500 homes to maintain.
A serious challenge is keeping homes in good repair when many properties built in the 60s and 70s are showing their age at the same time. Just over a third of council homes currently require significant repairs or modernisation, and many more need other repairs.
In response, the council plans to invest more than £225 million from the Housing Revenue Account* over the next five years on repairs and planned improvements; this major investment will cover all areas with council housing regardless of whether the tenant lives in one of MK’s seven priority areas for regeneration or elsewhere in the borough.
Next year the council will replace around 700 heating systems, 1,200 kitchens, 1,100 bathrooms, 600 roofs, and 1,150 doors and windows, as well as handling around 30,000 repairs, and spending around £800,000 on adaptations that allow older or vulnerable people to remain independent.
Because the council invests in adaptations in MK, local people are a third less likely to move into a care home than elsewhere in England.
Building more homes
The council is also dealing with rising demand for council accommodation. The number of people asking for help has risen every year for the past five years, and dramatically so this year: 1,379 applications were accepted during the whole of 2017/18 compared to 2,124 in the last eight months alone (between April and December).
MK Council is committed to building an additional 500 council homes by 2022, and wants developers to build at least 37,500 truly affordable homes by 2050.
Smarter approach
The Housing Revenue Account Business Plan also explains how the council will take a smarter approach to property improvements.
By looking closely at patterns of requests and comparing data to the results of surveys and inspections, the council can work out where modernising a home would be more effective than a series of one off repairs.
A new specialist team will help people who need critical help to avoid losing a tenancy. Budget proposals (subject to formal approval in February) also set out investment in caretaking, cleaning and pest control, with a clear focus on working together with tenants to develop services that meet individual community needs.
Councillor Nigel Long, cabinet member responsible for housing said: “We want everyone in Milton Keynes to have access to a good home at a price they can afford. The national housing crisis means the number of affordable properties is falling, but we’re doing everything we can to combat that in MK.
“We want to build more homes for the families who need extra help finding a place to live, and we want to make sure the homes we provide are secure, energy efficient and modern so our tenants aren’t spending any more than they need to keep warm.”
A 2018 survey of tenants found most people wanted the council to prioritise repairs, building new family homes in MK, and improving communal areas and estates.
The Housing Revenue Account Business Plan will be received by Cabinet on 8 January.
