More Action on Empty Homes Wanted

More than three-quarters of Britons want to see stronger action by politicians to tackle the problem of empty homes, according to a study by Halifax and campaigning charity the Empty Homes Agency. Of the 2,000 people questioned, 78% think the government should place a higher priority on tackling empty homes, while 74% want their local authority to do more. One-third (36%) of people said empty properties blighted their local area. The research also suggests that people living in England underestimate the number of empty homes there. English adults estimate there are on average 377,000 empty homes in England, whereas statistics from the EHA show the figure is more than 610,000. Read more on the LocalGov website.

Record Year for Empty Homes Coming Back Into Use

The Government has reported that a record 37,414 long term empty homes came back into use in England this year,  reducing the total number of long-term empty homes to its lowest recorded rate ever. The drop is also the biggest ever annual drop. Last year the total dropped by 17,945. The figures (provisional at this stage) are derived from council tax data and shows the net reduction in homes that have been empty for more than 6 months. This indicates that the total number of long term empty homes has dropped to below 225,000. Read more on the Empty Homes Agency website.

PRS Landlords 'Ready To Buy Empty Social Homes'

The vast majority of private sector landlords are ready and willing to bring currently empty social housing back into use.  A survey of 114 members of the Residential Landlords Association has revealed that 82 per cent would be prepared to purchase empty social homes if they were put up for auction.  There are almost 75,000 social homes currently lying empty across England. Statistics from the Empty Homes Agency say there are 720416 empty properties in England and 646049 of them are owned by private sector owners.  Read more on Inside Housing.  

Don’t Knock Them Down – Give Them Away

Independent charity Empty Homes is urging councils to give away empty houses instead of knocking them down. £70m of public money has been earmarked for demolishing over 5,000 homes, with little prospect of them being replaced. Thirteen councils have been awarded £35.5m in match funded government grants (through the Housing Market Renewal Transition Fund) to wind up their Housing Market renewal programmes. Empty Homes has discovered through the Freedom of Information Act,that councils intend to use virtually all of this money to knock down empty homes and buy up more houses in order to demolish them. In total the councils intend to demolish 5,125 homes. In the majority of cases the proposals make clear that there are no imminent plans to replace the houses, and the cleared sites are set to be grassed over or used as informal car parks. Read more on the Empty Homes website.

Councils Slammed Over Knocking Down Homes to Dodge Debt

The chief executive of the charity Empty Homes says it is "appalling" local authorities are looking to knock down council houses as a way of dodging debt before they go self financing. Nottingham city council have identified nearly 1000, and Birmingham over 1200 homes that they have lined up for demolition. The tenants will be evicted and presumably put into temporary accommodation. What could possibly justify this huge upheaval of people and such a big loss of affordable homes? The shocking answer is - accounting reasons! The government has decided to allocate its own housing debt to councils as part of the scrapping of the HRA subsidy system. The unintended consequence is that councils are seeking to avoid the debt by demolishing houses. Each council house they own will attract around £12,000 of debt. Get rid of a 1000 houses and you avoid £12m debt. Read more on the Empty Homes website.

HCA under Fire over 'Bizarre' Empty Homes Map Rules

An empty homes map issued by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) cannot be accessed by any housing association, it has been revealed. The Empty Homes Agency – which aims to create new homes by bringing empty properties back into use – has called the restricted access to the map a “nonsensical bureaucratic rule”. The HCA explained that the map, also called the Empty Homes GIS toolkit, “brings together publicly available data from a range of sources to enable local authorities and registered providers to target and tackle this issue within their area”. But the data is only accessible to government agencies through a secure log-in. The Empty Homes Agency explained the map is a “goldmine of information that could be invaluable to housing associations and other affordable housing providers to help get empty homes back into use”. The toolkit allows users to see the density of empty homes across England alongside other useful statistical data to build a picture of development and better inform investment decisions. Read more on the Empty Homes website.