Give councils more powers to get empty homes back into use
YOUR recent coverage has shown the harsh realities of London’s housing crisis. From creative proposals, with apparent mayoral backing, to house the homeless in a renovated disused Tube station to the harsh realities of housing enforcement in Redbridge where council officers found a rogue landlord squeezing 23 people into a six-bedroom house.
Meanwhile, Kensington and Chelsea council has recently bemoaned its inability to seize a thousand wellmaintained but empty homes in the borough to house its homeless — hamstrung, they claim, by inadequate Government legislation. Yet across London, due to a lack of both a Government- and GLA-led strategy over two decades, more than 20,000 homes are long-term empty while millions of pounds are spent by local authorities accommodating more than 54,000 households in unsuitable temporary accommodation.
It is good that the Government has just lifted the cap on councils borrowing to build new council housing in the coming years but why not also give councils the power and finance to bring London’s existing empty homes back into use for the homeless right now?
The homeless will be housed quicker, London councils will save enormous sums on their crippling temporary accommodation bills and streets blighted by empty homes will be markedly improved by the renovated and newly re-occupied properties.
Chris Bailey
Action on Empty Homes
THERE are few things that enrage our readers more than the sight of “lights out London” developments that appear to be virtually unoccupied from one month to the next.
It does indeed seem like a shocking waste of resources at a time of acute housing shortages in the capital. However, I would be cautious about giving councils the power to seize properties as you suggest, except perhaps in extreme cases where a long abandoned home is at risk of dereliction. There is a danger that it could actually deter the private investment in homes that London is crying out for.
Another problem is how to define an “empty home” — an apartment that is only occupied for six months of the year, or six weeks, or six days?
Perhaps a more realistic route forward is to encourage town halls to use the powers in the Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) bill currently completing its passage through Parliament. This could allow councils to raise funding through punitive tax rates for new genuinely affordable housing in the communities where it is most needed.
Jonathan