Why is the increase higher than current inflation?
This is in line with the Welsh Government Rent and Service Charge Standard 2020-2025 and is equal to the inflation for the year to October 2023. This is the inflation point that the Welsh Government have based their increases on for the last 5 years in line with their social rent policy. Inflation is at a lower level now, however as an organisation we have suffered much higher levels of inflation over the past 2 years and last year the rent increases were well below the inflation levels therefore we had to absorb this increase in costs. Hafod is working hard to reduce costs as much as we can, so that we can deliver best value for money for our customers, but we did need to increase by the maximum 6.7% in order to keep meeting the day-to-day costs of the organisation. For example, the increased costs in reactive repairs, number of repairs, cost of materials, are all above the inflation measure that’s used by Welsh Government.
We appreciate the pressures on individuals and encourage our contract holders to contact us as we may be able to help. If you would like your housing officer to contact you to discuss this further please let us know as we may be able to help if you are struggling or refer to other agencies for support.