Housing Corporation calls for hit squads to bring empty homes into use

Under the proposal, made in the corporation’s response to the London Housing Board’s 2005 housing strategy, councils, housing associations and other interested parties would form units that buy up, renovate and manage empty homes.

The teams would use councils’ compulsory purchase order powers to force owners of homes left empty for prolonged periods to sell them. Housing association expertise would be used to renovate, let and manage the homes. Portfolios of empty homes could be assembled to be renovated under a single contract in order to benefit from economies of scale.

The corporation also suggested that an empty property website, similar to the empro.co.uk site, should be launched to put landlords and developers in touch with long-term empty homes. Refurbished empty homes could also be used as move-on accommodation for homeless people, while short-life housing could be converted into permanent homes.

Steve Douglas, regional director for London at the Housing Corporation, said: “Housing associations have significant expertise in managing rehabilitated stock and street properties. Their skills are being under-utilised in that area. They used to be quite active in private sector leasing, empty homes strategies and empty homes management but over the past few years they have seen their activity reduce.

“We think there’s a place for incentivising RSLs to get back into that market. They are a regulated sector so that gives people confidence that the management would
be undertaken by organisations with good records.”

The corporation could target more of its grants for temporary housing at former empty homes, he said.

“The Housing Corporation already has a significant temporary social housing programme and we would like to do is make that even better targeted as part of empty homes strategies. At the moment the programme is piecemeal and we would like a strategic programme focused on bringing empty homes back into use.”

The proposal was welcomed by Jonathan Ellis, the chief executive of the Empty Homes Agency. He said: “This reflects the dramatic sea-change in the Housing Corporation over the last three to four months.”