Agenda item

[ Report of the Director of Environment and Neighbourhoods. To  be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Housing and Estate Renewal.]

Haringey Council Empty Homes Policy will set out the Council's approach to dealing with empty homes within our borough and the actions we plan to take to bring those empty homes back into use

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Estate Renewal introduced the report which set out a refreshed version of the Council’s existing empty homes policy. This had been developed to communicate the Council’s approach to bringing empty homes back into use.

In response to questions from Cllr Cawley – Harrison, the following was noted.

·         Agreed a response would be provided to Cllr Palmer’s question at the January Cabinet meeting, which was put forward when discussing the 1000 new homes to be built in the borough, and comparing this policy decision to the number of empty homes in the borough which was over 1000 and some empty for over a decade. At the meeting the figures quoted were questioned by the Cabinet and Councillor Palmer followed up with details of this information received in an FOI request which set out the following:

·         FOI reference number LBH/9297319.

·         It stated that:

“As at 31 October 2019 the Council had:

·              1136 properties classified as being empty for more than six months

·              94 properties classified as being empty for more than five years

·              21 properties classified as being empty for more than ten years”

·         The Cabinet Member for Housing and Estate Renewal queried if these figures had included second homes? It would be important to establish this as there was a different process involved. These properties were applicable for Council tax collection and could therefore not be deemed empty homes.

·         Local research had yet to be completed on the reasons for the rising numbers of empty homes and this would be done following the introduction of the policy and employment of the Empty Homes officer. It was known that there were a variety of reasons why people leave their homes empty. In particular, homes that were empty from 6 months to 5 years’ could be due to the increasing number of elderly residents that were going into supported living arrangements or residential care and their families were waiting to find out whether their relatives will return home. It was noted that there will also be cases of homeowners working abroad. The team were striving to ensure that they were in contact with empty home owners and were aiming to reach a higher number of homeowners to understand fully the reasons for the number of empty homes as part of implementing this policy.

·         The Cabinet Member commented that she was fully supportive of Empty Dwelling Management Orders[EDMO’S] and had no issues with the use of regulatory powers to bring homes back into use. Officers added that the Housing Improvement Team had not taken forward EDMO’s before and would be working with Legal services and Homes for Haringey on how the process will work and there would be a further update on this initiative.

·         The Leader concluded that the main objective of the policy should not be the number of EDMO’s issued but the bringing empty homes back into use.

RESOLVED

1. To approve the Empty Homes Policy as attached in Appendix 3 of the report.

2. To note that any costs incurred in expanding the service within

2020/21 will need to be met from existing Environment & Neighbourhood revenue budgets.

3. To note that a capital bid of £5m will be made to increase the CPO budget to £6m as part of the 2021/22 budget setting process.

Reasons for decision

During a housing crisis, it is unacceptable that there are within the borough a number of homes that stand needlessly empty. Currently, Haringey has 1,188 homes that have stood empty and unused for six months or more.

In the Council’s t Borough Plan Priority 1- Housing, the vision is for a safe, stable and affordable home for everyone, whatever their circumstances. The

Council is committed to working together to provide housing for all our residents needs and to creating environments that are safe, clean, and green (Priority 3).

Empty homes are a housing resource that could be utilised when demand for housing is high. Homes which are allowed to remain empty long-term blight neighbourhoods and attract antisocial behaviour and crime.

Haringey Council has a good track record of bringing empty homes back into use. Our existing empty homes policy however is outdated and in recent years, due to reduced resources, empty homes work has been targeted only at those homes causing the most nuisance or those which have been empty for longer than 5 years or which have been abandoned. Although the number of empty homes in Haringey is at a relatively low level, in part due to the Council’s work to date, there is a case to expand the scope of that work. This can be achieved through revising the empty homes policy and reallocating resources within the Environment & Neighbourhoods revenue budget

Alternative options considered

 Not to consider expanding any of the resources required for empty homes work. The number of empty homes in the borough has been rising for five years, and so this option was rejected.