Shelter: Convert empty homes to social rent housing

Shelter: Convert empty homes to social rent housing

0:02 AM, 29th April 2024, About 7 months ago 9

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Shelter is calling for empty homes to be converted into social rent homes to help solve the housing crisis.

According to the housing charity, there are 261,000 empty homes in England.

The charity is urging the government to build 90,000 new social rent homes per year across England.

Turning empty homes into social rent spaces is better for the environment

According to a report by Shelter, converting an empty home takes around 1/3 of the time compared to building from scratch taking around 8 months, instead of 2-5 years to build.

The charity also claims that turning empty homes into social rent homes is better for the environment, cutting carbon emissions by 50-75% per unit on average.

Shelter has listed 10 key recommendations to make their plan a reality.

The recommendations include increasing council tax premiums for empty properties and exempting sellers of long-term empty homes from a proportion of Capital Gains Tax if selling to a council, housing association.

Some of the other recommendations include:

  • Invest £1.25bn grant in a long-term empty homes programme to bring suitable empty homes back into use in the target 10 cities. Back this with a clear strategy to convert them into social rent homes and include potential to expand funding beyond this geography once proof of concept is established.
  • Ringfence empty and second home Council Tax premiums for LEH acquisition and conversion.
  • Support for local authorities and social landlords to boost capacity – with resource funding to expand councils’ empty homes teams; knowledge sharing roadshows between councils already taking action and those that want to; and a central compulsory purchase and empty homes ‘flying squad’ to support ambitious local authorities across the country.
  • Tighten the definition of the long-term empty home category to ensure empty homes that are meaningfully empty but misclassified as second homes are correctly classified. Put the onus on the owner to prove regular use.

End housing emergency

The report concludes that converting empty homes is one piece of the puzzle to solve the housing crisis.

The report says: “We need a national suite of mechanisms to urgently ramp up the delivery of social rent homes to 90k per year. This is how we will end the housing emergency.

“Empty home acquisition and conversion is a fast, cost-effective, and greener way for the next government to quickly increase the delivery of social rent homes early in its term and reduce the number of empty homes.

“The more central government puts in to address empty homes, the more social rent homes we will get out.”

The full report can be read here


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Reluctant Landlord

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9:25 AM, 29th April 2024, About 7 months ago

you got millions Shelter - why don't you start and lead by example????

Markella Mikkelsen

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10:48 AM, 29th April 2024, About 7 months ago

I was going to suggest that you use some of your funds to put the homes back into use and( re)house some of your customers .
But then, that sounds like work, doesn't it?
Carry on flogging landlords is so much easier....

Bernard Mealing

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11:09 AM, 29th April 2024, About 7 months ago

This daylight robbery of an empty house being brought up to a reasonable standard. Incurring the full rate of Council Tax. My next refurb will see me put one of my handymen in as a watchman and tenant. and applying for the single occupancy rate of council tax..

Saving of around £140 a month for landlord. No problem of the handyman staying because 1. He already has a house...2 He can if it is a husband and wife and she stays in the house ( assuming no young children ) will also apply for single occupancy... and he will move on after refurb to some other of my jobs.

Ian Narbeth

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11:12 AM, 29th April 2024, About 7 months ago

The average house price in the UK is £302,000 https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/housepriceindex/december2023.

Even assuming the empty homes are worth say 30% less, that's £210,000. Assume that each house can be rendered suitable for letting at a cost of £40,000.

£250,000 x 90,000 = £22.5 billion. And that is per year. Even if mortgage lenders will lend 75% of the house price and a lower percentage of the refurb cost, a lot more than £1.25 billion will be needed. Alternatively, prices will be driven down and owners forced to sell.

Martin Roberts

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13:31 PM, 29th April 2024, About 7 months ago

Should we refer to Shelter as a 'housing charity'?

Advice Centre at best, and most of that very bad.

NewYorkie

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14:57 PM, 29th April 2024, About 7 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Martin Roberts at 29/04/2024 - 13:31
Shelter does nothing Citizens Advice can't do. Give their grant funding, sponsorship, and donations to them instead because people know them and trust what they do.

LaLo

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17:33 PM, 29th April 2024, About 7 months ago

It sounds like ‘compulsory purchase’ again! Would the market price be paid - errr?

Cider Drinker

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23:03 PM, 29th April 2024, About 7 months ago

Empty homes absolutely should be brought back into use.

However, once they’re filled and the migrants keep coming, what next? 261,000 homes would be used up with just six months of migrants.

Paul Essex

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13:47 PM, 30th April 2024, About 7 months ago

Reply to the comment left by LaLo at 29/04/2024 - 17:33
Yes - watch this as just today the government has given councils legal rights to compulsory purchase land at farm land value rather than development land value.

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