Empty Housing (Hansard, 4 March 1998)

§ Mr. Raynsford

The total number of vacant dwellings in England is down by 23,000 on the April 1996 figure. This fall is encouraging.

At 1 April 1997, a total of 81,200 council homes in England were empty, 2.4 per cent. of local authorities' stock. The 1996 figure was 79,600 (2.3 per cent.). All of the increase was in "management vacants" (dwellings available for letting immediately or after minor repairs) which account for 61 per cent. of all vacant local authority homes.

I am disappointed to see that the total number of local authority vacants has risen for the third year running, after falling in successive years between 1990 and 1994. It is clearly part of good housing management practice for local authorities to keep their empty dwellings to a minimum. My Department's Working Group on Best Value in Housing will be looking at performance indicators, and will consider whether it would be appropriate for local authorities to establish local targets for reducing the proportion of their housing stock which is out of effective use.

We are making nearly £800 million available to local authorities in 1997–98 and 1998–99 through the Capital Receipts Initiative, and I hope that local authorities will make the very best use of this additional spending power to improve and renovate their existing stock and make it more attractive to prospective tenants.

It is also disappointing to note that vacancy rates in the Registered Social Landlord (RSL) sector have risen from 23,600 (2.5 per cent.) at April 1, 1996 to 26,800 (2.7 per cent.) at April 1, 1997. The Housing corporation has published research and held seminars to inform and 655W encourage RSLs to take action to reduce void levels. RSLs should also benefit from the development of Best Value in Housing.

Many local authorities and RSLs already have good empty property strategies for which they can take credit. But there is still much to be done, and the Government will continue to encourage social housing providers to develop, and implement, effective empty property strategies to make the best use of existing housing stock.

The number of vacancies in the private sector fell from 667,000 in 1996 to 640,000 in 1997. This is the fourth successive year that the numbers have fallen. About 45 per cent. of private sector empty homes are "transactional" vacancies, which are properties lying vacant for a short period as part of the normal buying and selling process. Some 225,000 are problematic vacants which may require action to bring them back into use.

In the Government sector, the number of empty homes held by my Department, the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office fell by 754 between 1 April 1996 and 1 April 1997. The number of Government empty homes is still too high, and this government is determined to improve on these figures in the future.

I am placing in the Library of the House a list of local authorities in England, ranked on the basis of their management vacants at 1 April 1997.