Council House Evictions In Lambeth Are Symptom of 'Profit Making Culture'

The borough of Lambeth is gripped by a 'profit making culture' over the emptying of council houses, a whistleblower has claimed in a new documentary. The decision to sell more than a thousand homes in Lambeth is hurting the most vulnerable people in society because of a wider focus on “short-term gain”, according to claims made by the former council policy officer. He said residents had been evicted even after taking decades to repair derelict homes. The claims were aired in a new documentary directed by Chris Hersom called Home, which was recently screened at the British Film Institute. The whistleblower said: “What’s happening now is that there is this attitude that everything needs to make a profit – even in local government services. And it’s meaning that whether by accident or design people using social services are being pushed out.” Read more on the Evening Standard website.

Houses for £1 and a Loan to Do Them Up

During the past few months the city councils in Stoke-on-Trent and Liverpool have been inundated with applications after launching projects allowing people to buy a derelict home for just £1 upfront.  Now the charity Empty Homes is offering a variation on this theme: a 25% stake in an empty house for £1. Ten two-bedroom terraced houses located in Stoke-on-Trent are up for grabs, and you don't need to be a resident of the city to apply – it is open to anyone in the UK who doesn't already own a property and meets the criteria.

We can probably expect to see more of these schemes being launched after communities minister Don Foster, who has visited the Stoke-on-Trent projects, announced a £91m government cash injection to bring back into use more than 6,000 empty and derelict homes and commercial premises across England. Read more on the Guardian website.