London mayor Ken Livingstone's plan to bring 2,600 of the capital's worst empty homes back into use by this time next year does not go far enough.
That was the response of the Association of London Government to Livingstone's pledge to "end the waste of empty homes" in the capital.

He said last week that the Greater London Assembly would bring together housing associations, private sector landlords and investors to meet the target.

ALG housing policy manager Duncan Bowie welcomed the collaboration but said that there were, as yet, no similar targets for GLA-controlled properties.

He said 8 per cent of the Metro-politan Police's 1,100 properties stand empty. The corresponding figure for London boroughs was just 2 per cent.

He added that the assembly's target was already being "broadly achieved" in London and was simply an amalgamation of existing borough targets with no new money involved, he added.

Bowie also said there were serious problems in identifying London's empty homes because of a shortage of information. "A lot of the data on private sector vacant [properties] is very weak," he said.

Jonathan Ellis, chief executive of the Empty Homes Agency, said: "We have a big task ahead of ourselves in London. But the key thing is that people are getting together and laying building blocks for the future."

Source

Housing Today