New £50 million scheme launched to help bring empty properties back to life
Wales’ Climate Change Minister Julie James has announced a new £50m scheme to bring more empty homes back into use.
The minister has confirmed the launch of the new National Empty Homes Grant scheme, that will run over the next two years, and could see up to 2,000 long-term empty properties brought back into use.
This scheme will run alongside other Welsh Government schemes like Leasing Scheme Wales which is designed to improve access to longer term affordable housing in the private rental sector.
A grant of up to £25,000 will be available for home owners or prospective home owners to remove significant hazards from their properties to make them safe to live in and to improve their energy efficiency.
In order to qualify for the grant, the property must have been registered as empty with the local authority for a minimum of 12 months prior to commencement of the works.
Main residence
Once the works have been completed, the successful applicant must then live in that property as their main and only residence for a minimum of five years.
“I am pleased to announce the allocation of £50m that will be used to bring more empty properties in Wales back into use,” Julie James said.
“The latest statistics show there are more than 22,000 long-term empty properties in Wales. These are a wasted housing resource that can become a blight on our communities.
“The funding announced today will be used to reduce the number of empty properties and, therefore, increase housing supply. “
Aside from owner occupiers, Registered Social Landlords, local authorities and community housing groups will also be able to access the funding for empty properties they are acquiring to bring back into use as affordable housing.
The scheme has been developed with the local authorities and will be administered by Rhondda Cynon Taff Council on behalf of the Welsh Government.
Each participating local authority will have an allocation each year and will be responsible for undertaking surveys of the properties to identify and recommend the qualifying works for grant funding.
A list of the participating local authorities can be found here…….
More local authorities will be added to the list once ready to accept applications.
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This money shouldn’t be given to property owners they should be compulsory purchased and turned into council houses how will this money be audited? What’s stopping these houses being empty again in a few years.
Fair comment especially where owners have seen fit to leave something empty for many years. There are situations where “owners” may have inherited a run down property from elderly parents or reached an age where they need to move to smaller or more accessible housing. Lots of these cases crop up especially in rural Wales and in the less fashionable urban areas. In such cases a system of grants carefully controlled could bring homes up to scratch. And why not put conditions on it like a need for say 5 years continuous occupancy by new owners or tenants or else… Read more »