The rise, which will come into effect from April, was approved during a meeting of the cabinet on Wednesday (February 4).
Councillor Ian Irvine, cabinet member for housing, said the increase was in line with government guidance.
He added: “We could charge less, but I think if we did that it would be pretty irresponsible because we have to maintain a healthy housing revenue account and meet all the demands that are placed on the housing service, including the cost of repairs and all the other matters which go into running a fairly large housing service.”
Supporting the increase, Councillor Nick Hilton said: “Although in an ideal world it would be great to have low rents, I think we all understand that there could be serious implications for the housing revenue account if we didn’t take this action now.”
The housing revenue account is used to manage income and expenditure for the homes owned by the council, covering everything from repairs to the building of new homes.
Between July and September last year, it showed a £920,000 overspend for repairs and maintenance, so more money is always needed.
As well as the increase in housing rents, the cabinet approved a 4.8 per cent increase in rents for hostels and shared ownerships, and made changes to service charges and cleaning charges for flats.
The changes included not charging residents for ground maintenance at the flats, should the amount be less than 40p per week as it would not be economical in terms of the time taken by staff to raise, levy and chase the bills.
This means that 2,073 homes will not be billed, costing the council £21,895.
There will also be a £5 per week cap for flats which do pay for grounds maintenance. This is good news for the likes of people living on Furnace Parade and at Bewbush Manner, where the costs would have been £14.41 and £23.86 per week respectively.
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