Bid to bring more homes back into use

RHONDDA Cynon Taff has one of the highest numbers of empty homes in Wales.

A council report shows there are currently 684 long-term empty private sector homes which have been recorded as being empty for the past four years.

The vast majority of those are in the Rhondda Valleys and the second-highest number of these (43) are in Treorchy, despite its high demand for housing.

There were 3,556 private sector homes that were vacant for six months or more in Rhondda Cynon Taff as at April 1, 2017, which is 3.8% of the area’s private housing stock. The average for Wales is 2.4%, with the lowest (Torfaen) having 0.78% of their stock empty.

The percentages are said to be not so high in the Cynon Valley and only Penrhiwceiber has comparable levels to parts of the Rhondda Valleys.

But the report puts the fact that RCT has one of the highest levels of empty homes in Wales down to the level of “churn” in the housing market rather than persistent long-term empty homes because the bulk of homes recorded over the past four years have only been empty for short periods before returning back into use through purchase or rental.

Over the past four years the council has brought 651 homes back into use through direct action, loan or grant aid.

Last year the council brought 204 (5.7%) of its empty homes back into use.

In comparison with other Welsh councils, RCT was second in relation to the number brought back into use and ranked eighth for percentage.

The council says it has used a number of methods to achieve this, which include the use of enforcement, Welsh Government Houses Into Homes loans, council grants, affordable housing schemes, advice and assistance, providing homes above shops in Aberdare and Pontypridd, and removing the 50% council tax reduction for empty homes.

To tackle the issue in the long term, the council has an Empty Homes Strategy covering the period 2018-21. The strategy’s key aims include:

Developing partnerships that will enable an increase in the scale of empty homes being brought back into use;

Maximising the use of current funding and identify further funding models;

Continuing to use a range of interventions to ensure all types of empty homes are targeted and enabled to be brought back into use;

Undertaking further research in communities and evaluation of existing schemes to understand why there are a high number of empty homes;

Identifying possible solutions that could prevent homes from becoming empty and also develop interventions for different market areas and types.

A report set to go before the council’s health and wellbeing scrutiny committee says: “The council is already taking a proactive approach to bringing empty homes back into use within Rhondda Cynon Taff and has made available significant resources to tackle the issue.

“However this strategy will provide a framework for all empty homes activity and ensure a coordinated and ambitious approach going forward to decrease the total number of empty homes in the county borough overall.”