§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) whether, as a means of helping those local authorities which have a grave housing problem, he will seek to grant housing authorities statutory authority to requisition empty houses for three-year periods as temporary accommodation for teachers, students, homeless families and those in urgent need of short term accommodation, pending permanent settlement;
(2) whether, as a means of assisting local authorities with housing problems, he will seek to grant them legislative authority to levy a 15 per cent. local rate on all habitable accommodation which has remained empty for periods in excess of nine months, increasing this by 50 per cent. for each subsequent six monthly period whilst the property remains empty.
(3) whether, as a means of assisting those local housing authorities with a grave housing problem, he will introduce the necessary legislation to enable them compulsorily to purchase empty habitable housing units; and if he will make the necessary finance available for these purposes.
§ Mr. FreesonAs was made clear in the recent debate on the Requisitioning ct Empty Properties Bill, introduced by my hon. Friend the member for Salford, East (Mr. Allaun), we have already taken a number of steps to enable authorities to bring empty dwellings into use. If these do not produce results we shall certainly examine other ways of achieving this objective.
Local authorities already have the necessary powers, under Part V of the Housing Act 1957, for compulsory acquisition. When an order is confirmed the authorities may, under the terms of DOE Circular 33/76, acquire existing housing, including empty dwellings, for continued housing use without reference to the Department. Such purchases attract housing subsidy, as do newly-built dwellings.