The project is part of efforts to acquire more emergency housing.
Salford council plans to crack down on empty houses to help tackle the borough’s housing crisis and create temporary accommodation for families facing homelessness. Town hall bosses approved a £1.5m grant from the GMCA to bring buildings that have been vacant for more than six months back into use.
The funding includes £113,902 to employ two ‘empty home officers’, who will reach out to absentee owners. The remaining £1.4m funding will be used for a ‘lease and repair’ scheme, where the council foots the bill for repairs in exchange for securing the homes for use as temporary accommodation for a ‘minimum period’ yet to be determined.
Addressing a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, June 9, City Mayor Paul Dennett said the grant was a result of ‘a lot of hard work’ negotiating with the government and GMCA. ] is certainly down towards the bottom when it comes to how many empty homes there are compared to other GM areas. But it’s still a massive deal in addressing the housing crisis and emergency housing.
”The three-year plan would aim to put 48 homes back into use in the first year, with an estimated 150 due to be in use by the end of the project. Mr Dennett added that the local authority would also start to look into turnaround times at housing association properties that become empty, which he described as ‘massively variable’ across the region and within the borough.
The total grant amount is £1,539,908, and comes on top of an additional £5,079,476 from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to acquire 45 new social housing units. The cash, which is spread out over four years, will see the local authority gradually purchase 30 emergency housing units, eight resettlement homes, and seven large resettlement units with four or more bedrooms.
The grant is from the government’s Local Authority Housing Fund, a pot of money specifically allocated to help councils find ‘high quality’ temporary accommodation as part of efforts to halt the costly use of hotels as emergency homes for those facing homelessness. The programme would be delivered with the help of housing association ForHousing and the council-owned housing firm Deríve.
Deríve RP, the council’s ‘arms-length’ social housing provider, is currently under investigation by the council after concerns about its management emerged earlier this year. In a general update about the investigation, a council spokesperson said: “We understand that residents and stakeholders may have questions, and further updates will be provided in conjunction with Derive RP Limited at the right time and without compromising the integrity of the process.
The council has been assured that the services provided by Derive RP Limited to residents remains the priority.
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