Section: Housing Provision
Funding to Bring Empty Homes Into Use
The Government announced a new drive to deliver more affordable housing by bringing empty homes back into use and giving more cash to communities who are building more homes.
Housing Minister Yvette Cooper set out the announcements in a consultation on a £510 million pot to support councils and communities who are working to deliver new homes. This money is in addition to the £10.2 billion investment in affordable housing over the next 3 years (see Housing Finance).
The announcements include:
- New rules and incentives, so only councils with robust strategies for reducing the numbers of empty homes will have access to the funding.
- Extra cash for communities that are doing most to support more homes in their area. In areas where the number of homes is increasing by more than 0.75% a year of the total stock, councils could get an extra £1,100 from the Government for every additional home, on top of infrastructure funding and developer contributions. Support could rise from £1,100 to £5,000 per home by 2010/11.
- Consulting on whether there could be higher rates of grant for family homes compared to smaller properties.
- Clarification that outdated regional housing targets should not be treated as a ceiling on local authorities that want to build more. Some councils claim that they have been prevented from granting planning permission for more homes because out dated regional targets have been regarded as a ceiling on the number of homes in the area.
- More cash for councils who are identifying good sites for more homes. Councils who have set out a 5 year plan of good sites for homes, and have consulted with local communities on plans for 15 years into the future, will get more funding.
The announcements were made in a new consultation on the Housing and Planning Delivery Grant. The funding is part of a new incentive package to encourage councils and communities to do more to support affordable housing, and to ensure that those areas doing their bit should properly benefit.
The Government will make clear to councils they should also have strategies in place to bring more empty homes back into use in order to be able to access the funding. This includes the following action:
- Working with property owners to find solutions to allow their properties to be brought back into use.
- Offering incentives ranging from advice on selling and letting property to grants and leasing arrangements.
- As a last resort, the use of Empty Management Dwelling Orders to manage homes where other measures have failed.
Wales Targets 6,500 New Homes
Welsh Assembly Government Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing, Jane Davidson outlined changes to planning policies aimed at delivering 6,500 homes.
Speaking at the Planning: Delivering Affordable Housing Mid and West Wales Regional Seminar in Llandridnod Wells, she said:
"The Welsh Assembly Government recognises the importance of affordable housing and the critical role it plays in improving the quality of people's lives."
"We are committed to providing an additional 6,500 new build affordable homes over our four-year term. Not all of these extra homes can be provided through the Social Housing Grant programme, so we must look increasingly to the Planning system and the private sector to deliver."
She added that the Welsh Assembly was already acting on a number of proposals to deliver more affordable housing including:
- Expanding the Rural Housing Enabler service.
- Re-examining the Assembly Land Protocol to identify opportunities to bring forward additional sites and enhanced affordable housing contributions.
- Liaising with the WLGA to identify specific targets for the use of local authority land for affordable housing where there is clear evidence of need.
- Examining the feasibility of establishing a Housing and Planning Grant for achieving and exceeding affordable housing targets.
- Establishing the collection of data on the number of affordable housing units provided by tenure and by grant funding via the current review of Assembly Government housing statistics.
