Officer appointed to bring empty homes into use
A housing officer dedicated to the task of bringing empty homes in the St Albans District back into use has been appointed.
She will take up her post next month and will at first focus on 72 properties that have been vacant for at least two years.
The appointment by St Albans City and District Council follows a rise in the number of vacant homes in its area.
That figure, for the public and private sectors combined, increased last year by 75 from 172 to 247 – the highest total since 2013.
By June this year, it had risen by a further 111 to reach 358.
An update on the effort to bring empty homes into use is to be given to a meeting of the Council’s Cabinet on Thursday 21 September.
The Empty Homes Officer will have a target of filling at least 29 vacant properties a year.
She will keep a list of empty properties and trace the owners to offer to work with them to bring them back into use.
There is also a range of actions the Council can take to achieve its aim including serving a Compulsory Purchase Order to take over an empty property.
One of the effects of the rise in empty homes has been a consequent decrease in the New Homes Bonus paid by the Government to Councils across the country.
This grant is partly dependent on the number of long-term empty homes a local authority has brought back into use. The amount given to St Albans was reduced by £92,590 last year.
It is estimated that the annual financial benefit to the Council for a net reduction in the empty homes figure is £1,223 per property. This bonus should be available for the next four years.
Councillor Alec Campbell, the Council’s Leader and Portfolio Holder for Resources, said: “The number of empty homes in the District is small compared to the 60,000 or so that are in use.
“However, the figure has been rising and we are now taking action to bring it down. There is a huge demand for housing in the District and it is simply not acceptable to have properties empty for any length of time.
“We will now have an officer dedicated full-time to the task of identifying empty flats and houses, contacting the owners and discussing with them how important it is to bring them back into use.
“The expected increase in the New Homes Bonus means that the job should also pay for itself.”
Anyone who is concerned that a property may have been empty for some time can report it to the Council by emailing: privatesectorhousing@stalbans.gov.uk.
Councillor contact:
Cllr Alec Campbell, Leader of St Albans City and District Council, Tel: 07793 550200, Email: Cllr.A.Campbell@stalbans.gov.uk
Councillor contact:
John McJannet, Principal Communications Officer, St Albans City and District Council.
E-mail: john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk
Tel: 01727 296130