Empty Homes

Lord Stunell Excerpts

Tuesday 29th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Andrew Stunell)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley (Jason McCartney) for bringing to the House’s attention this important subject, which is very close to my heart, as I know it is to his. I was delighted that this move to bring empty homes back into use was written into the coalition agreement between our two parties and that we have now had the opportunity to put some real cash into the programme to deal with it. I also congratulate him on his moustache and wish him well with his fundraising.

Like my hon. Friend, I have been in contact with George Clarke and Channel 4, and I am happy to add a second endorsement of the programme on empty homes that they are developing. He, I and they are appalled at the scandal that 250,000 properties are empty when millions of people are on waiting lists, anxiously looking for homes and unable to find them. As well as being eyesores and easily falling into disrepair, empty homes are often an expensive menace to communities and public services, attracting antisocial behaviour, squatting and vandalism.

The Government know very well that we need to build more homes, more quickly, and the housing strategy statement made in the House by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Local Government last Monday shows real earnest intent. At the same time, we have to make better use of our existing homes, as that is better for communities, for the environment and for the families who have the new home to live in. We have been working on ways to bring empty homes back into use, and tackling those homes is one of the key pledges that we made in the housing strategy.

My hon. Friend appeared to have some difficulty in understanding the situation in his constituency. The figures available to the Department refer to the whole local authority area of Kirklees. He might be interested to know that in the six years from 2004 to 2010, the number of empty homes reported to the Department went up from 6,200 to 7,300, so there were extra empty homes at a time when housing demand was rising. However, the good news for him is that Kirklees council will receive £7.6 million under the new homes bonus over the next six years because it has succeeded in bringing 307 homes back into productive occupation.

The Government have taken a number of important steps, including the new homes bonus, in response to the empty homes problem. Back in September, I announced that we were allocating a £100 million budget so that housing associations, councils and community and voluntary groups could apply to bring empty homes back into use as affordable housing. I was astonished by the intervention of the hon. Member for Hyndburn (Graham Jones), who said that councils are not eligible to apply for that money. That absolutely is not the case.

[Graham Jones]

That information was provided to me by a cabinet member of our local council, which had looked through the consultation. I was advised that it was not entitled to bid under the proposals. If I am wrong, I will stand corrected.

[Andrew Stunell]

Then the hon. Gentleman stands corrected.

We recognise that there is a wide range of possible approaches to tackling empty homes and that different approaches are needed in different circumstances. Sometimes the right vehicle for doing that will be the council, but sometimes it will be other registered housing providers, housing associations or local community groups. The bidding guidance was published on 21 November and registered providers of social housing have until 23 January 2012 to submit applications. I earnestly suggest to the hon. Gentleman that he should revisit his sources, because it would be tragic if Sefton lost out because of a misreading of the paperwork.

[Graham Jones]

Will the Minister give way?

[Andrew Stunell]

No, I think not.

Alongside the publication of the guidance on the bidding system for the £100 million, we have also allocated almost £3 million of empty homes funding for this financial year to organisations that are ready and able to deliver now, so that work can begin straight away. As a result of that spending, 200 properties will be brought back into use.

We are also setting up a national intermediary in the next few weeks to administer the community element of the funding. There are legal reasons why it is not possible for that to be directed through the Homes and Communities Agency. It will allow smaller not-for-profit community and voluntary organisations to access some of the £100 million and will allow community groups to stimulate new and innovative ways of tackling empty homes. I have seen plenty of those already, so I know that there are organisations ready to go. My hon. Friend mentioned the possibility of a rolling loan fund. There are some complexities with that which do not appear immediately, but some of the models through that community route might well exploit that opportunity.

Funding will be allocated on a demand-led basis. To put it another way, we are not going to stuff people’s mouths or stuff organisations with money. We want the money to go to real schemes that will really deliver results. Let me add in parenthesis that the outgoing Government were great at allocating budgets to projects that could never be delivered, but we do not want to go down that route. Let us make it so that every pound counts towards bringing an empty home back into use.

On top of the £100 million with the launch of the housing strategy last week, my right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Local Government was able to announce an additional £50 million of funding to tackle some of the worst concentrations of empty homes. Although I do not know the detailed circumstances of my hon. Friend’s constituency, I could well believe that some of the higher concentrations would be found in Kirklees and the measure might therefore apply to Colne Valley. I am sure he will want to explore that. A more intensive approach will be required than simply dealing with a home here and there, and it will involve refurbishing and reconfiguring homes, as well as improving housing in the public realm and tackling wider issues in the local area.

The funding details of that £50 million are being finalised and further details will be announced shortly, but there will be some differences between that fund and the £100 million fund. The £50 million fund will tackle concentrations of empty homes, and it will not be appropriate for all homes to be brought back into use as affordable housing, which is the clear intention of the £100 million fund.

My hon. Friend rightly praised the Government’s initiative of the idea of introducing a council tax premium, which is being consulted on. I hope that local authorities and others who are interested will respond positively to that proposal. He made a good point about the premium needing to be tailored to local circumstances. Councils will have local discretion to introduce a council tax premium on homes in their areas that have been empty for more than two years, to provide a stronger incentive for empty-home owners to bring them back into use. Of course, that could still be coupled with a discount or a free period at the onset of the home being empty. It will be important for local councils to configure their profile of charging accordingly.

I have already commented on the new homes bonus. In the first year of such funding being given to councils, £19 million can be attributed to empty homes coming back into use. As I have said, there are 307 such homes in Kirklees, which has got further to go than nearby Bradford, which brought 1,500 homes back into use with an equivalent budget coming back to the council. Again, my hon. Friend might want to speak politely—challenge, possibly—his council and ask, “What’s wrong with Kirklees compared with Bradford? Let’s get those empty homes back into use.”

[Jason McCartney]

I will ask that question.

[Andrew Stunell]

It was a rhetorical question; I have no intention of responding to it.

In addition to those measures and separately, my right hon. Friend has announced housing market renewal transition funding of £71 million to help families trapped in half-empty and abandoned streets as a consequence of Labour’s controversial regeneration scheme introduced in 2002 that far too often managed decline, rather than fulfilling its task of regeneration.

Following the spending review announcement, separate housing market renewal funding ended this year, but £35.5 million is being allocated to develop a transitional scheme intended to help those people. That will be a match-funding scheme, generating about £71 million overall, as I said, to resolve the worst problems in the five most challenged areas: Merseyside, east Lancashire, north Staffordshire, Hull and Teesside.

My hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes (Martin Vickers) spoke about the conversion of shops into houses. Certainly, the Government are very much aware of those opportunities, and we are consulting on some changes of planning use classes that might make conversion to housing a simpler proposition in future.

It only remains for me to comment on the right to rescue that my hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley suggested might be useful. It will be difficult to combine that with the action that we are taking to prevent squatting, on which I am sure he is equally keen to see action.

Empty homes are a vital resource for the housing market. We need to get more of them back into use sooner, and I look forward to working with hon. Members and friends all around the House in doing so in the next few years.

Question put and agreed to.