Council's drive to stamp out empty homes

The Empty Homes Strategy 2015-2020, published today, revealed 527 long-term empty properties have been brought back into use by Southend Council across the borough over the last nine years and 55 in 2013/14.

The work has helped to reduce the number of private homes that have been empty for more than six months in the borough from 1,463 in 2006 to 651 in 2013, the majority of which were owned by either private landlords or companies rather than social landlords.

The council’s Private Sector Housing Team is currently working on a further 20 priority empty homes to bring them back into use as part of a five-year plan to reduce the number of empty homes in the borough by a further ten per cent, prioritising the worst cases.

However, the report also outlines the council’s plans to tackle anti-social behaviour associated with empty homes through SMAART (the Southend Multi-Agency ASB Response Team) paying regular visits to monitor the condition of empty homes and taking action where the owner is unwilling or unable.

Housing councillor David Norma said: “Long-term empty homes are a complete blight on local communities and can result in anti-social behaviour around the property, impact on the appearance of a street or estate, and affect the character of the area as well as property values.

“Whilst there are often valid reasons for a home being empty for a short period of time, it is long term properties that are the real scourge and the focus of this excellent strategy which will help to not only improve the appearance of the Borough but more importantly bring back into use homes for families that need them.

“The work already done has helped to significantly reduce the number of longer-term empty homes, but I am committed to seeing this excellent work continuing as despite the major reduction, there are still 651 across the Borough and we want to see that figure reduced further using all the powers available to us.”