Waste of space
Six hundred homes are lying empty
More than 600 privatelyowned homes are lying empty in Wishaw, Motherwell and Shotts – even though 570 households and 319 children in North Lanarkshire are living in temporary accommodation.
The shocking figures highlight the pressing need for private homeowners and landlords who are struggling to maintain their properties in the three towns to work with agencies to return them to use.
There are currently 619 unused homes in Wishaw, Motherwell and Shotts.
Wishaw has 235 long-term empty homes, Motherwell has 276 and in Shotts there are 108 empty residential properties – all of which have been lying empty for six months or more.
A survey by YouGov found that 60 per cent of Scots believe that long-term empty homes reduce the amount of available housing for homeless or low income families.
The same survey also reveals that 75 per cent of Scots believe that empty homes cause antisocial behaviour, while 54 per cent report a decreased sense of safety caused by empty homes.
The Scottish Empty Homes Partnership provides support for organisations including councils, housing associations and community groups to develop policies and processes that will bring private sector empty homes back into use, provide additional homes and improve the look and safety of communities.
This includes working closely with North Lanarkshire Council’s empty homes officers to facilitate best practice sharing. The Partnership also runs a rolling programme of empty homes shared services projects that enable councils to pilot empty homes work before creating longer term, mainstream empty homes services.
Since 2010, the Scottish Government has funded the partnership with charity Shelter Scotland to help councils work with owners of empty homes. The partnership has brought more than 1,700 homes back into use so far.
The number of households in temporary accommodation on March 31 in North Lanarkshire last year rose by three per cent on the previous year’s figure.
The number of children in North Lanarkshire living in temporary accommodation on March 31, 2017, was 319 – an alarming 20 per cent more than the 2016 figure.
Last year, 166 households with children or pregnant women were living in temporary, social sector accommodation.
In 2017, 55 households in North Lanarkshire were living in a hostel.
Charity Shelter says although empty homes cannot solve housing supply issues alone, they can be part of a holistic solution to provide local affordable housing and to regenerate communities.
The Scottish Empty Homes Partnership advisory group brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the project which also draws on good practice and lessons learned from similar work in England and Wales.
Work on empty homes aims to improve housing supply, regenerate communities, renew town centres and sustain rural communities.
Measures to return empty homes to use also seek to restore confidence in local property markets and discourage antisocial behaviour such as fireraising, vandalism and fly-tipping at empty properties, as well as tackling climate change and improving sustainability.
The Empty Homes Agency in England has estimated that the cost of refurbishing an empty home is between £6,000 and £25,000, whereas the average cost of a new-build home in Scotland is more than £100,000.
Unlike new- build homes, the infrastructure and local services are already in place to support an empty house or flat being brought back into use, making return to occupancy more cost effective than building new properties.
Catriona Arbuckle, empty homes officer with North Lanarkshire Council, said: “We offer a range of services to support private homeowners and landlords who may be struggling to maintain and retain their properties so they can be brought back into use. This help may include, amongst other advice, guidance on selling and renting properties, organising repairs and limited financial advice.
“In certain circumstances, homes may be identified as suitable for consideration under our empty homes purchase scheme.
“The homes are identified in areas where the council has a need for additional housing or where the purchase of a property will enable the council to take complete ownership of blocks of flats, making communal repairs much easier to complete.
“Our Empty Homes scheme provides additional homes for residents and improves the look and safety of local communities.”
The number of empty homes currently in Wishaw, Motherwell and Shotts changes on a daily basis as properties are added and deleted.
To keep this information as up to date as possible, Catriona says the authority relies on owners to contact its council tax section to register their property as empty. Owners of empty properties interested in the scheme should call the council’s private sector housing team on 01698 274105 or visit www. northlanarkshire.gov.uk