Council set to buy 175 homes near city hospital
BID TO EASE THE SHORTAGE IN SOCIAL HOUSING
COUNCIL bosses are set to buy and refurbish 175 homes from the NHS to try to ease Leicester’s social housing shortage.
The homes near Leicester General Hospital in Crown Hills were until recently occupied by health workers and their families who were evicted by The University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) last year.
NHS managers said the homes were not fit to be lived in and that it would cost £5 million to bring them up to an appropriate standard.
However, Leicester City Council is now poised to put in an offer for the properties and make them available to some of the 6,000 people waiting for a council home locally.
Elly Cutkelvin, assistant mayor for education and housing, told councillors at a full council meeting: “It’s particularly important we look at portfolios such as this when you consider our diminishing role as a landlord.
“We are losing a lot of properties through the right to buy so it’s essential we take all opportunities that come our way. The prospect of 175 additional council homes is very significant.”
Coun Cutkelvin said the housing officers met NHS officials before Christmas to look at the homes to see if they were viable to be taken on as council properties.
She said: “It was confirmed that they would be. A further inspection was carried out last week to establish their condition and what work would be required to refurbish and reconfigure them.
“We are now in ongoing dialogue with the NHS and hope to be in a position to make an offer soon subject to valuation and all the necessary approvals being in place.”
City councillor Patrick Kitterick, who initially suggested the city council acquire the Hospital Close homes, congratulated the council and the NHS for the swift action taken.
He said: “Can I ask all urgency is taken to bring them back into use as it is a problem in the local area to have them boarded up.
“Those houses are desperately needed for families and individuals who are on the city’s housing waiting list.”
Coun Cutkelvin said she hoped the deal would be completed before the end of March and the financial year so they could have them back in use as homes as quickly as possible.
She said the homes were in “average to poor” condition at the moment but could be renovated. However, there is no defined price for the purchase or work at the moment.