We have now produced a substantially revised response to the CLG proposals to change the EDMO legislation. The revised response reflects further information given to us by CLG about the shape of the proposed amendments to the EDMO legislation, which are less…
There was a surprise story featuring Andrew Stunell released on the CLG website at some point on Monday 10th January, entitled "New incentives to tackle the blight of empty homes". This describes the New Homes Bonus and encourages people to report…
We have drafted a response to Eric Pickles' statement about forthcoming changes to the EDMO legislation. This can be downloaded from here. We have been invited by DCLG to feed into the amendment process. This document focuses on the practical changes…
Eric Pickles has announced that EDMO powers are to be curbed. This was first reported by the BBC (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12127328) and we now have the press release on our website. The exact changes have yet to be agreed although it is…
Local Sustainable Homes: How to Make Them Happen in Your Community, by Chris Bird Transition Books (2010) £14.95, paperback, 240pp, ISBN 978 1 900322 768; Kindle edition also available. (This review is also available in PDF format - see attachment at end of…
News stories like this one about Oxford's first EDMO of a home empty for 15 years are useful not only for the story themselves - a useful reminder of why we are here - but also for the comments of local residents. There's the odd idiot with some…
The Empty Homes Network has now submitted its response to the government's consultation on the New Homes Bonus (downloadable from here). We recognise that the inclusion of long-term empty homes in the calculation of housing supply will provide a very…
The proposal floated in recent Empty Homes Network publications to seek a review of Council Tax exemption class "C" on the grounds that it is a tax break that is not sufficiently justified has been dropped, following a vote by the EHN Executive. The…
We've now submitted our Consultation Response to the BIS Call for Evidence about Borrrowings and Debt. The deadline for submissions was the 10th December. Our response was only concerned with the issue of enforced sale and can be downloaded from our…
There's been an exchange in Parliament about empty homes, with Andrew Stunell putting forwards the Government perspective. The brief debate can be found here. The minister specifically mentions EDMOs as a tool that local authorities can use. He mentions…
We've prepared a draft response to the BIS consultation on Managing Borrowing and Dealing with Debt . You can download our response here. If you have any comments they can be placed in our Enforced Sale forum here.
The first draft of our consultation response is now available for comment. Please download from here and make your comments in the forum here. Please note that the latest second version was loaded at 9.00 a.m. Thursday 25th Novermber. The text is…
The latest government consultation on the future of social housing has just been published. Entitled Local decisions: a fairer future for social housing it lays out significant changes in the forms of social tenancy that will be available, confirms the…
EHN has produced a Briefing document about the government's New Homes Bonus proposals for empty homes pracittioners and other interested parties, looking at how it is designed to work the practical implications for empty homes work. Whilst we'd like…
