Posted: Tuesday 24 January 2012
Scottish Government Proposed Consultation on Empty Homes
By Kate Dewar
To many us who remember with fond affection the positive impact of the Empty Homes Initiative which ran from 1996 to 2000/2001 the Scottish Government’s proposed launch of a Consultation on Empty Homes will be particularly welcomed. We understand the Consultation is expected to be issued in early spring or summer. Against a background of funding constraints, the Scottish Government’s intended proposals to assist Councils in bringing private sector empty homes back into use are sensible and imaginative.
The Pros
The cost of refurbishing an empty home has been estimated to be between £6,000 -£25,000 with existing infrastructure and local services already in place. Compared with the £100,000 average cost of a new build home the case for adding Scotland’s 25,000 long term Empty Homes to the affordable housing supply is compelling.
Other benefits are clear;
- community and town centre regeneration – those who tuned into Channel 4’s pre Christmas series on The Great British Property Scandal might have been surprised of the level of properties abandoned above shops in our high streets and towns.
- sustaining rural communities.
- preventing vandalism and other forms of anti social behaviour
- sustainability and energy efficiency.
- the encouragement and promotion of private landlords as fulfilling a much needed social function.
- the increase in use of the private sector landlord model managed by social landlords to preserve homes and manage tenancies.
The Cons
So far so good, but the Government critics level the same charge as they do with other housing supply initiatives like the National Housing Trust model. For instance;
- the proposals represent just another piece meal reform on a scale too small to make a real difference to the scarcity of housing supply for those across all social classes, the employed and jobless alike, in housing need.
- the complexity of the administrative and legal process involved measured against the benefits are barely tangible. In Scotland the collective housing waiting list is approximately 350,000 with 40,000 households classed as homeless and 35,000 of these in priority need. How much of an inroad into these figures will some of these 25,000 empty homes make?
- the new powers proposed for Councils could be viewed as a restriction on civil liberties and an undue interference with property rights. The proposed (and carefully drafted)powers would have to be exercised proportionately, fairly and reasonably if they are not to attract legal challenge.
- some empty homes are in places far from areas of population growth and are unlikely to be attractive to tenants.
Financing
The Government has already awarded grant funding to private owners of empty homes prepared to re-furbish and make available their properties for affordable letting, We understand the Consultation is likely to include proposals to ring fence Council Tax revenue to fund repairs and improvements which could be in the form of a re-payable grant rather than an one off payment.
Conclusion
There is a housing supply crisis and the housing market is broken. New solutions, new models and new ideas need to be conceived and costed, and brave decisions taken by the Housing sector and the Government.
The new Empty Homes proposal is one such idea which would inject some confidence into an insecure and beleaguered market.
