The charity Empty Homes has writtent to the Leaders/Mayors of the council-tax-collecting authorities in England announcing Empty Homes Week and requesting them to provide information about their empty homes staff.
The text of the email is given below:
We are writing to suggest ways your local authority can get engaged in Empty Homes Week 2016, and also to update you on our work at Empty Homes-the national campaigning charity.
Please circulate this email widely in your local authority, including to those that lead on empty homes, wider housing issues, neighbourhood and economic regeneration, town centre management, as well as to press and communication teams.
Empty Homes Week 2016 Monday 28th November to Friday 2nd December
Every year local authorities see Empty Homes Week as an opportunity to organise events and put out information so that people in their area know the advice and assistance that is available locally to tackle empty homes.
Empty Homes Week is also the chance to celebrate successes and reflect on what more needs to be done to bring empty properties back into use to help meet housing needs; and to address the concerns of residents about neighbourhood blight.
Why not take the following action for Empty Homes Week?
1. Use the Empty Homes Week logo at your events and in the information you put out to help ensure that everything that happens that Week comes together to make a bigger voice for action to tackle the waste of empty homes.
Email research@emptyhomes.com and we will send you the Empty Homes Week logo.
2. Let us know how you are meeting some of our recommendations for local authorities, by returning the form below to us.
Fill in the form below and email it back to research@emptyhomes.com by the end of October 2016.
3. Let us know what you are planning for Empty Homes Week so that we can link to it. We are happy to hear about it at any point, including during the Week. But, if you can tell us in advance that would be great.
Email research@emptyhomes.com to let us know.
Affordable homes from empty commercial spaces
In July 2016 we launched our report, Affordable homes from empty commercial spaces. Although there are undoubtedly a number of challenges in successfully creating new housing through this route, there are also significant opportunities - not just in terms of affordable housing, but in terms of wider community benefits. We nonetheless take the view that where a property has a long-term viable future in the commercial sector that this should not be undermined as communities need a range of services and activities to thrive.
The report draws on case studies and demonstrates the importance of the strategic role that local authorities can take on commercial property. It concludes with recommendations for a range of organisations, including local authorities, housing providers, town centre managers and owners of commercial property.
You can download the full report here: http://www.emptyhomes.com/publications/
This work is part of a wider project funded by the Nationwide Foundation which is seeking to promote the creation of affordable housing from long-term empty commercial property, including unused floors above retail units, as well as office blocks and shop units struggling to find a new commercial user.
Free events
We will be holding two free events- one in the North and one in the South of England for staff from local authorities and housing providers who are keen to learn from the case studies and look at the opportunities for creating affordable homes in empty commercial properties.
If you are interested in receiving details of the event please email: research@emptyhomes.com
Empty Homes in England
We have just launched our 2016 edition of Empty Homes in England to raise awareness of the waste of empty homes. The report analyses the latest Government’s data on vacant dwellings (gathered through the local authority Council Taxbase in 2015) and maps how they are distributed across England. It also looks into the reasons homes are empty in different types of housing markets; and what works in addressing the waste of empty homes and tackling the underlying causes.
You can download the full report here: http://www.emptyhomes.com/publications/
This work is part of our wider campaign to raise awareness of the waste of empty homes and promote ideas to ensure more homes are brought back into use for people in housing need.
If you are interested in discussing this campaign please email: helen.williams@emptyhomes.com
Spreading community-led regeneration in areas with higher levels of empty homes
A big focus of our work for the next few years is making the case for action and investment in areas with high levels of empty homes. As part of this we:
- Are identifying and working with six organisations across England to support and follow what they do in order to demonstrate that community-led action is an effective means of bringing empty homes back into use as part of wider neighbourhood improvement approaches. It can help get to the heart of the issues that local people face and the reasons properties stay empty.
- Are building the evidence base of the characteristics of areas that have higher levels/concentrations of long-term empty homes to help inform a better understanding of the underlying causes and what works.
- Want to build a coalition of organisations championing the case for more support from central government, local authorities and others for community-led neighbourhood improvement approaches to tackling empty homes and wider linked issues.
- Raise awareness of the waste of long-term empty homes.
- Research, develop and work with others to test ideas for bringing long-term empty homes back into use for those in housing need.
- Provide encouragement and advice for those seeking to bring empty homes back into use, or concerned about empty homes.
- Campaign for changes to policy and initiatives at national and local levels that will enable more action to bring empty homes back into use for those in housing need.
- We have a current empty homes strategy for our area. (please highlight your answer and attach the strategy).
- We employ…………………………staff to tackle empty homes (please fill in the number of full time equivalent staff dedicated to empty homes).
- We have an empty commercial spaces strategy, which seeks to create or stimulate affordable housing supply from long-term empty commercial spaces. (please highlight your answer and attach the strategy).
- We are interested in developing an empty commercial spaces strategy, which seeks to create or stimulate affordable housing supply from long-term empty commercial spaces. (please highlight your answer).