Empty Homes – Finding the funding solution

By Tony Draper, Director, Askival

While the machinations of yesterday’s autumn budget are digested, it was interesting to see the subject of empty homes hit the headlines on the BBC website recently Why are we building homes when so many are standing empty? – BBC News

Even though I have previously been involved in this area of work I still learned something new – that housing authorities do not have a statutory duty to bring empty homes back into use, albeit that they have a range of powers to do so, and it makes sense from a social and economic perspective to see unused resources brought back into use.

The article largely focused on individual homes that are empty, mainly for family reasons – probate, families not wishing to see the home they grew up in occupied by other people etc.

What was not mentioned is that many homes are empty because of proposed estate regeneration schemes where properties have been acquired and tenants have been decanted. This problem can be addressed by the council/registered provider keeping the acquired/vacant properties occupied through short term letting arrangements.

As the BBC article mentioned, it is not an easy task to bring empty homes back into use, but there have been some excellent examples where significant success has been achieved.  Two such schemes are the Kent County Council No Use Empty scheme No Use Empty which has brought over 8,000 homes back into use since its inception in 2005.

I was involved in setting this scheme up. Originally it was implemented by KCC and four district councils, but has now been extended to all of the DCs in Kent and the model has also been adopted by Medway Council and Southend on Sea council.

Another scheme that was very successful was the Liverpool City Council Webster triangle scheme The people who turned run down £1 houses into amazing dream homes – Liverpool Echo

In this scheme, people with a local connection were offered the opportunity to buy a derelict council house for £1 with a commitment to renovate the property within a year.  This scheme enabled 111 properties to be brought back into use with the stipulation that the buyer occupied the property after renovating it.

Whatever the reason for a property being empty, it has the potential to be a home for someone.  As the BBC article indicates, funding is an issue. 

To overcome this, perhaps central government should create a national funding solution similar to  the No Use Empty loan scheme.

We would be very interested to hear from local authorities and housing associations who need help with a strategy for empty homes.  enquiries@askival.org

#emptyhomes #funding #nouseempty