Funding boost to tackle homelessness and empty homes blight
Homeless people in Teignbridge are being given the chance to live in their own home after Teignbridge District Council gained a £100,000 Government funding boost.
Teignbridge has been given the Empty Homes Programme funding by the Homes and Communities Agency to bring empty homes back into use as affordable properties.
Teignbridge was one of 10 authorities in the South West to benefit from the funding announced by Communities Minister Don Foster today (Thursday June 20).
The council’s housing team will be working with private sector landlords to bring empty properties and commercial premises into homes. The scheme will enable Teignbridge to provide grants to developers in return for a leasing arrangement which will help them let property to homeless people at affordable rents.
So far properties in Teignmouth, Dawlish, Newton Abbot and Kingsteignton are earmarked for refurbishment.
Empty premises can be a wasted resource at a time when there is a shortage of affordable housing and high numbers of people in housing need. Every empty property which can be brought back into use could house someone who needs a home.
Councillor Philip Vogel, Teignbridge District Council’s Executive Spokesperson for Housing and Planning, said: “We are delighted with this Government funding. It will enable us to keep working in partnership with the private sector to bring empty property back into use as affordable housing to meet the needs of our community.
“This funding will enable us to provide grants to developers in return for a leasing arrangement which will enable them to let property to homeless people at affordable rents.
“We’ve already done a lot of work to tackle empty homes across the district and it’s had a really positive effect on our communities.
“Teignbridge consults with all owners of empty properties to find out what it can do to encourage their reuse and owners' responses help assist in prioritising cases. Sometimes properties remain unoccupied because of a lack of funds for refurbishment works or due to difficulty letting and in these cases we are often able to offer low interest rate loans and small grants to assist in making properties ready for reoccupation.
“We can also assist with tenant finding and offer a private sector lease scheme. On occasions houses are simply neglected which can lead to issues such as anti-social behaviour, fall into disrepair, gardens become overgrown or cause a nuisance to neighbouring residents.
“On other occasions, owners of empty properties may be inexperienced landlords. We do our best to help each case and this money from the HCA is going to help us carry out even more work on providing affordable homes and reducing the blight caused by empty homes.”
The funding is being allocated under two programmes:
- £61m from the second round of the Empty Homes funding programme, provided to successful bidders eligible from all areas across England (except London, which will be announced separately) with empty homes. Around two thirds of this (£41m) is allocated by the Homes and Communities Agency to registered social landlords; and the remaining money to community and voluntary groups. Together the 187 successful organisations will bring around 3,200 extra homes back into use.
- £30m second year award of Clusters of Empty Homes programme funding for twenty partnerships in areas of acute problems such as Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Middlesbrough which will bring around 3,500 homes back into use.
Announcing the funding, Mr Foster said: “The government is doing everything possible to tackle the problem of empty homes and urban blight. Today I’m announcing we’re going to do even more, with towns across England benefiting from £91m to refurbish over 6,000 empty properties to get them back into use. This will bring people; shops and jobs back to once abandoned areas, and provide extra affordable homes we so badly need.
“We have already made very good progress, cutting the number of long term empty homes by 40,000 but with thousands of people in this country desperate to buy a home and areas still suffering problems of urban blight we must go further still.”
Andy Rose, Homes and Communities Agency Chief Executive, said: “We had a very encouraging response to the funding across a wide range of types of property. This demonstrates a strong appetite and scope for bringing empty homes and properties back into use, which will help to reinvigorate our communities and towns. We look forward to working with housing providers to bring these homes forward.”
The other areas in the South West to receive funding are:
Bath and North East Somerset - £119,000 (10 homes)
Bristol - £73,395 (4 homes)
Gloucester - £590,000 (16 homes)
Isles of Scilly - £286,750 (2 homes)
Mendip - £800,000 (21 homes)
Plymouth - £660,000 (30 homes)
South Gloucestershire - £773,395 (4 homes)
West Somerset - £1.063m (36 homes)
Wiltshire - £73,395 (4 homes)
