Perth and Kinross Council's Housing and Environment Service is to present its Business Management Improvement Plan (BMIP) to the Housing and Communities Committee tomorrow, 22 August.

The BMIP reports sets out a range of housing targets for the upcoming year, which include:

• Giving every child the best start in life by continuing to lower the number of overcrowded households.

• Supporting tenants to maximise their incomes and reduce household costs, making sure all eligible home owners have access to a home insulation scheme that will help improve the energy efficiency of their homes and reduce household bills.

• Continuing to enhance the approach to delivering homeless services through the preparation of a Rapid Rehousing Transition and Homeless Improvement Plan.

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• Helping communities find solutions to local problems and build community capacity, through the implementation of a Local Housing Strategy (LHS) and Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP), to ensure the supply of affordable housing meets housing need.

• Enabling communities to decide and influence enhancements to their local environment through the Estate Based Initiatives scheme.

• Continuing to increase the number of available social housing units.

The report also identifies how the Service worked to reduce the number of overcrowded households in Perth and Kinross from 127 in 2015/16 to 115 in 2016/17. Satisfaction levels amongst tenants about their housing services shot up to 95% in 2017/18, compared to 85% 2016/17.

It highlights how the average length of time to complete a non-emergency housing repair reduced from over 13 days in 2015/16 to less than nine days in 2017/18.

Convener of the Housing & Communities Committee, Councillor Peter Barrett, said: "The BMIP highlights the important contribution the Housing and Environment service makes towards achieving the Council's overall objectives.

"By setting realistic targets for the upcoming future, the Council can continue to improve on the valuable services it provides to the Perth & Kinross community. The report highlights clearly the work we are doing, and what we will continue to do, to support both Council tenants and residents of the area."

(CM/MH)