Harrogate district residents are being urged to report empty homes as new figures show some progress has been made on the problem which is contributing to the housing crisis.
Harrogate Borough Council has faced calls to take greater action to bring empty homes back into use at a time when around 1,800 households remain stuck on the social housing waiting list due to a “desperate” lack of affordable properties.
Figures now show some progress has been made, with the number of homes empty for more than two years falling from 228 in 2019 to 205 this week.
There is still much ground to be made, but the council said the figures show it is taking positive action.
Cllr Mike Chambers, cabinet member for housing and safer communities, is now asking more property owners to bring their empty homes back into use as he also urged residents to report any cases to the council as part of a national week of action.
He said:
“We want to work with property owners who, for whatever reason, have an empty property that could be better used to provide a home for local people.
“There are options available, including the empty homes loan or rent bond scheme to carry out repairs or improvement works and bring them back into use.
“I’d urge anyone who is interested to get in touch.”
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Other figures show the number of Harrogate district homes empty for more than six months has also fallen from 838 in 2019 to 758 this week.
‘We can’t afford to waste properties’
This comes at a time when campaign group Action on Empty Homes says the nation has seen a “massive rise” in cases as it also calls for councils to be given greater powers “to act where owners and landlords won’t or can’t”.
The campaign group said:
“We believe that we cannot afford to waste such properties.
“In England 100,000 families are trapped in often poor quality, insecure temporary accommodation, which does not meet the standards that are required of the permanent, secure, social housing these families are entitled to.”
There are numerous reasons why properties can lie empty. In some instances, landlords cannot afford to renovate their property to sell or rent out.
Properties may also have been inherited and the new owners don’t know what to do with them.
Loan scheme
Harrogate Borough Council last year launched a loan scheme to help property owners carry out repairs. The loan is for anyone who does not have the money to carry out repairs to a property which has been empty for more than six months.
In what is described as a “last resort”, the council also has powers to carry compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) where efforts to bring empty homes back into use have failed and legal action is taken against landlords.
Just two CPOs were carried out in 2020/21 and the local Liberal Democrats previously said a stricter approach should be taken.
But councillor Chambers said the Conservative-run council would rather work with property owners rather than take legal action against them.
He said:
“When we have exhausted all options, we will look to make a compulsory purchase order to bring empty homes back into use.
“But we would much prefer working with property owners and highlight the options available to them.”
Councillor Chambers also said there are often empty properties which the council is unaware of, and he urged residents to report cases to the council’s empty homes officer.
