Millions spent boarding up homes as families languish on waiting lists

Published by Ross Macmillan for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Central Government, Local Government

Councils are shelling out millions of pounds a year to secure and board up publicly-owned empty homes while two million families languish on waiting lists, it has emerged.

The figures were revealed by Channel 4 tonight in its Great British Property Scandal programme - part of a series being aired this week addressing the nation's housing shortage.

There are close to one million empty homes in the UK, with 350,000 of them vacant for six months or longer. In contrast, there are nearly two million families on the housing waiting list.

The programme revealed that the councils who responded to its survey spent a total of £11 million last year securing and boarding up properties; with Liverpool City Council spending the most at £1.28 million.

Presented by TV architect George Clarke, the programme highlighted the rows of empty homes in Northern towns and cities such as Liverpool, Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland.

This, it said, was in part, down to the Labour Government's failed Pathfinder programme - which earmarked swarthes of habitable homes for demolition to be replaced by new build homes, leaving perfectly good properties boarded up on what are now ghost estates.

Liverpool City Council says no-one is interested in living in the properties, despite evidence put forward on the programme to suggest otherwise. There are some 21,000 families currently on the waiting list in Liverpool.

Ann O'Byrne, Liverpool Labour's Cabinet member for Housing, told the programme: "People want choice. People don't want to live in two-up, two-down where the front door leads directly on to the street where all they've got is a tiny backyard with a little alleyway. Not everybody wants the same type of houses and yet we have to match the demand with what people want."

Since filming for the programme, the council has decided to plough a further £2 million into refurbishing empty homes.

It was a similar story in Pendle, Lancashire where there are over 1,800 empty homes. The programme focused on a row of empty Victorian homes left vacant for eight years.

Paul Lloyd, Pendle Council's Housing Standards Manager, said: "Unfortunately we've also got the problem that they're not big enough homes for the types of families we have."

He said the council pays £400 a property for a contractor to board it up.

Clarke argued that instead of shelling out thousands on boarding up homes, the money should go toward altering the homes - such as knocking two into one - to make them suitable for larger families.

However, like councils across the country, Pendle cited lack of finance. Mr Lloyd added: "We haven't got the money."

The programme also revealed the difficulties owners of empty homes face in bringing their properties back into use. A couple interviewed for the programme were stuck in negative equity and couldn't afford to sell their home - despite it costing them around £400 a month in mortgage payments, council tax and utility bills.

But it's not just in the North, the programme revealed how in one area of Mayfair in London there are six £20 million properties lying empty.

Clarke called for a National Low-Cost Loan Fund to help owners bring their properties back into use and to help people buy empty homes.

Mr Clarke has set up a petition calling on the Government and council leaders to make it easer for ordinary people to get empty homes back into use.

The programme revealed how Birmingham has one of the highest numbers of empty homes in Britain with 13,109, Leeds with 16,865, but adding up all its boroughs, London is the city with the most empties with 70,468 despite record numbers on waiting lists.