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Rising demand for temporary accommodation in Newport is fuelling a new plan to tackle the “waste” of empty homes.
Since the pandemic, demand has more than doubled for temporary accommodation – and there are also currently more than 9,000 people on the city’s housing register.
A council scrutiny committee heard this week around 3% of the city’s housing stock is typically empty in any given month.
That works out at nearly 2,500 homes, according to the council’s draft Empty Homes Strategy for the next five years, which sets out various methods for bringing properties back into use.
Cllr Saeed Adan, the cabinet member for housing, told the committee empty homes are “a wasted resource” given the housing pressures in Newport – which is the fastest-growing area of Wales.
The updated strategy was also “intended to ensure we make best use of available funding”, he added.
It contains a range of ‘carrot-and-stick’ tools which the council can deploy for homes left empty for more than six months.
Officers identify those homes using council tax data, and add them to a database before conducting site visits.
The council said it recognises personal circumstances will often play a part in a home being empty – from inheritance issues and insufficient finances, to sentimental attachments to a property.
At first, it seeks to “collaborate” with a property’s owner and provide information on the various support that is available.
This can include the Safe, Warm and Secure scheme, which provides owners with interest-free loans for housing improvements in situations where market borrowing is more difficult for them.
In cases where the council has to exert pressure on a home’s owner, it can apply council tax premiums – effectively doubling bills – on properties left empty for a year or longer.
Revenue and benefit manager Emma Johnson told the committee the council had charged premiums on 578 premises so far.
Where those methods fail, in more “challenging” cases the council may pursue enforcement action, including legal notices for building improvements and compulsory purchase orders.
“The council prefers to take the approach of a combination of information, advice, guidance, and financial support,” it said in its strategy. “However, the council is prepared to take statutory action and enforcement when deemed appropriate and in the public interest.”
The draft strategy is expected to go before cabinet members in the coming weeks, before it is reviewed by all councillors later in November.
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