The Joint Rent Group was set up to assess how well the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) meets Government Guidance and delivers value for money for tenants.
Due to the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic, the Joint Rent Group has been using zoom to conduct their meetings. It is made up of tenant volunteers, housing and finance staff and the Housing Convener. They meet every 2 months and the tenant volunteers meet in-between so they can discuss the information provided.
If you would like to get involved please contact,
Jane Mack,
Financial transparency is important for staff managing services to know what their service costs are to improve efficiencies. It’s equally important to tenants to ensure that for their rent money, they are getting the best service possible.
The Scottish Housing Network provided some training for the group on the HRA Guidance and also on carrying out a self assessment of a HRA to help participants understand this complex area of Housing finance.
There are 6 tenant volunteers on the Joint Rent Group who are all active members of Tenant & Resident Associations and in particular the WDTRO, which is the umbrella organisation for groups and they will share information from the Joint Rent Group with their own groups. We are also committed to ensure all tenants can keep up to date with progress on the work of the group, and will keep this section up dated with meeting notes and information.
Finance reports are provided to the Housing & Communities Committee every 3 months and are publicly available. The Joint Rent Group have been keen to increase financial transparency and make it easier for all tenants to see how the Housing Revenue Account is spent and so easier to understand summaries of these finance reports have been created.
The HRA Guidance (PDF 2313KB) provides tenants with a valuable tool as sets out clearly the key principles that HRA’s should follow.
We have continued to improve the transparency around how the HRA is spent and this methodology sets out how costs are calculated.