Govt. Acts on Empty Homes

Easing the pressure on families who have inadequate housing should be a primary focus for any Government.  Those who are fortunate to be able to close the front door of their own home at the end of the day cannot be too grateful for this privilege.  Helping more families to be able to do this is a key objective for any society.

At a time when house building is bumping along the bottom in terms of new home starts the Government has increased its initiative to energise local councils into refurbishing and bringing back into use empty homes.

In the UK there are more than 700,000 empty homes, over 280,000 of which have been unused and under-maintained for six months or more.  Empty homes that can often attract anti-social behaviour, vandalism and fly-tipping to neighbourhoods and depress the values of other homes in the area.

Communities Minister Andrew Stunell offered £50 million Government funding to areas with clusters of empty homes which have good market prospects, such as access to transport links, but require intensive refurbishment to return them to a liveable standard.  Administered by the Homes and Communities Agency, councils who wish to apply will have to match the funding they receive - bringing the total investment to £100 million. Every successful bid must have strong local support and aim to bring at least 100 homes back into use.  Mr Stunell said:

"It's shocking that hundreds of thousands of houses sit unoccupied while people across the country are in need of a home of their own”.

Councils will also be rewarded by the application of the New homes Bonus scheme measuring the total number of long term empty properties.