Council house rent will rise by 2.2% from April.
Kirklees Cabinet members backed the increase, along with a 2.3% rise in garage rental.
The proposed average weekly rent for around 23,000 people in the council’s houses and flats will be £71.32 - an increase of £1.53 per week.
Tenants will be notified four weeks before the rise, which comes in on April 6.
Clr Cathy Scott, Cabinet member for housing, said they had kept the rise as low as possible: “We could, in theory, increase it further but it would create greater hardship to our most vulnerable and there will be a funding shortfall.
“If we don’t increase by 2.2% there will be a lot less income for our 30-year business plan to support strategic priorities going froward.”
Among those priorities is improving the current housing stock and adding new properties to it to cope with the increasing demand on affordable and social housing, with around 8,000 on the housing register.
The rise reflects national government guidelines for annual rent increases.
Cabinet members also backed capital spending plans, though they need the approval of Budget Council later this month.
It includes £90m of works to existing housing stock in five years which includes £1.9m for upgrading central heating systems which are no longer economical to repair.
It also includes £4.2m of kitchen and bathroom replacements or rewiring projects; and £2.5m on adaptations for people with disabilities.
Other projects include £543,000 on replacing communal doors; £1.6m on roofing and £760,000 in renewable energy projects, which will include solar panels.
While revenue budget plans include £1m for an intensive housing management scheme which will fund a pilot support project.
