Housing (Empty Property) (Hansard, 7 February 1984)

§ Mr. Simon Hughes (Southwark and Bermondsey)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to require local authorities to publish yearly a complete record of all residential and potentially residential property empty for more than six months within their areas, together with proposals for the earliest use, occupancy, letting or disposal of such property; and for related purposes.

In the past 150 years more than 50 statutes have been passed, at least part of each of which remains on the statute book, governing housing matters. Despite that, especially in the past decade, there has been an enormous growth in the amount of housing stock that has remained empty.

The most recent statistics — I hope that all hon. Members will accept that they are accurate—from the Department of the Environment show that there are about 170,000 homeless people. The first housing need is about 800,000 homes because many households are at present included in the homes of other households. The amount of vacant property has increased enormously in the past 10 years. A vacant property survey in England in 1977 recorded 420,000 empty homes. According to the HIP returns for 1981 on a Great Britain basis the total was 640,000. I am grateful to the housing emergency office and to Ross Fraser, who is here today, for compiling the latest figures which have not previously been announced. They are derived from returns last July, based on local authority records.

The 1984 total for local authority empty homes is 130,600, adjusted slightly upwards by the Department, for statistical reasons, with 22,700 as the best estimate for homes empty for more than a year. The number of empty homes in the private sector exceeds half a million — 540,341. That is a minimum, as some local authorities did not give figures for empty private homes and the Department has not yet adjusted the total upwards to take account of that. In addition, there are some 13,000 empty housing association homes and a further 22,000 in the public sector, owned by public bodies, corporations and the like.

That gives a staggering and embarrassing total of 684,000 empty homes. I seek leave today effectively to start a parliamentary campaign which I understand has all-party support to act on reports of the kind that we had from Shelter last year in its document, "Homes Wasted" and on the facts and figuress exhibited upstairs last month. I know that the Minister for Housing and Construction saw that exhibition and I am grateful for his presence in the Chamber now.

Such facts and figures show that we have a severe problem which we all have a duty to try to remedy. Various remedies have been suggested. The housing emergency office produced a manifesto some years ago. More recently it has been suggested that we have a Domesday Book by which information is publicly available so that public pressure can be used as a weapon to start the task.

Right hon. and hon. Members will be aware, from the demand in their constituencies, that there are many ways in which, if the will exists — the will makes money available—housing can be brought into use even if it is scheduled for demolition because of, for example, road construction. There can be short-life licences which do not 775 tie the owner into a tenancy which precludes the property being vacated when it is to be demolished. There can be homesteading by which there is help with a mortgage, so adding to personal investment in making an otherwise derelict house habitable. There can be help through short-term leasing of private property. Private owners are often reluctant to lease property above, for example, a shop when they are unhappy about their prospects of regaining it. There can also be schemes by which people who do not have the wherewithal to purchase can form a co-operative, so enabling a group of people to take responsibility for housing.

I am principally concerned not with the fault that has caused the mammoth growth in empty housing—we all share responsibility for that fault—but much more with the remedy. My proposal takes care to avoid two pitfalls which are proper objections. The first is that the Bill might be a centralist or authoritarian measure by which the Government dictate to local authorities, housing associations and the like what they should do. That is not its intention. Secondly, I have been careful to avoid the pitfall at the other end of the spectrum, which is to trespass into the private rights of the individual. I am conscious of that, not least because I worked in Strasbourg for a while. The first protocol to the European convention on human rights which the Government ratified, states that people are entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of their possessions. There are exceptions and derogations—

§ Mr. Hughes

No, the Council of Europe, which existed before the Common Market.

It was not long ago that it took me six months to find somewhere suitable and affordable to live in London. I was studying and earning nothing, so I could afford very little. Many people have that problem here and elsewhere. Many decent people end up being forced to break the law and to enter empty homes, thereby becoming liable to being taken to court for breaking the law. They take the law into their own hands because they see empty housing which they cannot obtain.

The Bill tries to avoid additional bureaucracy as, to a considerable extent, the figures are already prepared. The Department of the Environment receives returns from local authorities. The statistics are collected but they are not yet published in a way that enables people to see what is happening and what is planned. The Bill attempts to ensure that we know who the owners of properties are. Property is an asset in which we all have an interest. The housing stock must be used for housing. If owners, whether public or private, do not use it for housing they are accountable to the rest of us for failing in that duty. The name of the owner should be available.

Information about local authorities' use and intended use of empty property should be available so that people 776 can go, for example, to their local information centre and find out what the property or group of properties is to be used for and whether the local authority or other responsible body is implementing that proposal. Local authorities ought to make their strategy for their empty homes clear in their returns to the Department of the Environment. I hope to be able to talk to Ministers and officials in the Department about how that can be made effective and practical.

There should be codes of practice which would allow the temporary use of private property and short-life use of public sector property in such a way as to make local authorities and private owners feel comfortable and willing to allow people into their properties. If all of those provisions fail and public pressure still does not work there is an argument—the matter should be explored and I do not pretend that I have all the answers—that if at that stage a local authority does not have the finance necessary but other bodies such as housing associations do, they should be able to negotiate with the local authority. They would have a tenancy for a while and bring that property back into use. If private property is empty for a long time then perhaps it should eventually be subject to a supplementary rate.

We have heard much reference to citizens' rights in 1984. The citizen's right to know and the citizen's right to influence decisions of public bodies will be made more effective by the Bill. It will encourage the use of housing, which is a valuable national resource, rather than cause it to be an embarrassment. It is said that an English man or woman's home is his or her castle. Such a home often does not exist, and when it does it is often empty. I do not pretend that we have all the answers yet, but we must show, as the sovereign Parliament, that we recognise the problem. We must show that we are prepared to start the job of filling homes as well as building them. Our 700,000 empty homes should be an embarrassment to us all. The Bill can be a start in removing that embarrassment and in helping us to use one of our most valuable and wasted assets—empty homes.