Residential Accommodation: Empty Homes

Baroness Hayman of Ullock Excerpts

Monday 23rd October 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Swinburne (Con)]

As well as all the measures I referred to, joined-up thinking is going on with regard to those homeless initiatives and policies. The support is there for councils to make sure that they have all the tools they require to bring as many of those policies together and free up as much of that accommodation as possible, so that we can make sure people are not homeless or sleeping on our streets.

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

My Lords, my noble friend Lady Bakewell mentioned that the number of empty homes is increasing. The Minister mentioned a number of measures that the Government are bringing in or that are available to local authorities. Our concern is that, on paper, local authorities have a range of powers and incentives to resolve this, but it does not seem to make any difference. Can the Minister explain why that is the case and why the new measures they are bringing in will work any more effectively?

[Baroness Swinburne (Con)]

I agree with the noble Baroness that things are not moving as quickly as we would like. However, the statistics I have here are that since 2010 the number of long-term empty homes is down by more than 50,000. It is still much too high at 248,000 but is following a trend downwards, given all the measures being taken. As well as the measures I have outlined with regard to secondary council tax and EDMO action that is going on, we estimate that the changes we are making in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill could bring a further 71,000 to 85,000 properties into scope of the premium and potentially raise up to £120 million for local authorities. We hope that all these initiatives together, along with the work that the Local Government Association is doing, will empower councils to do what they need to do to get as many homes as possible back in use.