Empty Homes Team gets into full swing to bring much-needed properties back into use

A new Council team dedicated to bringing empty homes across Manchester back into use has achieved almost 300 successes in its first few months.

Since autumn last year, the Empty Homes Team has brought 276 long-term empty properties back into use. The majority have been sold or rented on the private market, but a small number have been sold to registered providers for use as social housing or rented out by the council to accommodate people facing homelessness. Almost £500,000 per year in Council Tax has also been added to the city’s coffers to help fund public services.

More than 400 further live cases are currently being worked on with more being identified all the time and these will be followed up with sites visits all over the city.

The dedicated Empty Homes Team was set up as part of the city’s response to the housing challenge, action which also includes overseeing the building of 10,000 social, council and genuinely affordable homes by 2032.

As well as creating these much-needed new homes, the Council is working to maximise the city’s housing stock by addressing the wasted resource of existing homes sitting empty. These long-term empty properties – which have been unoccupied for six months or more – can also blight their neighbourhoods, becoming eyesores or attracting litter, pests or anti-social behaviour.

While the high demand for properties across Manchester means that long-term empty properties are at historically low levels, it is still estimated that there are around 1,465 long-term empty properties dotted around the city.

Previous initiatives to tackle long-term empty homes have focused on regenerating whole areas which had clusters of ‘void’ properties. But now the Empty Homes Team is taking a targeted approach to tackling unoccupied homes dotted around the city.

Many of these long-term empty properties are tough nuts to crack. A high proportion have been left empty because the owner of the property has died and it is not known who should inherit it. Others are properties which require major structural work or refurbishment, which the owner cannot afford, before they can go on the market.

These long-term empty properties dotted around the city are identified through council tax data, tip-offs from neighbourhood teams and councillors, and referrals from local residents. Owners can even self-refer if they are struggling to know what to do with their properties.

The Empty Homes Team then engages with property owners to establish why the property is empty and explore options with them to bring it back into use. They also conduct site visits to assess the condition of properties and the extent to which they are causing a detriment to the area.

Where ownership details are not clear, the team employs four established genealogist firms to identify property owners, in a process which will be familiar to viewers of BBC One’s Heir Hunters programme.

The team’s work is detailed in a report to the Council’s Economy and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee which meets on 22 July, along with a draft Empty Homes Strategy.

Cllr Gavin White, Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration, said: “Getting empty properties back into use is a multiple win for the city. It helps provides much-needed housing for people who want it, removes blights on neighbourhoods and also generates Council Tax which supports vital council services.

“We’re doing a great deal of work to bring forward new council, social and other types of affordable homes which this is complementing.

“I’m pleased to see that the Empty Homes Team has got off to a cracking start, already bringing hundreds of homes back into use and setting their sights on many more. We would encourage anyone who is concerned about an empty home in their area, or even owners who find themselves stuck with a property they don’t know what to do with, to get in touch.”

Deputy Council Leader Cllr Joanna Midgley said: “Tackling homelessness is a complex challenge and making the most of our existing housing stock is one of the ways in which we are trying to prevent it.

“The Empty Homes Team has made excellent progress in the last few months and we look forward to this momentum being maintained.

“We would encourage anyone who is concerned about an empty home in their area, and even owners who find themselves stuck with a property they don’t know what to do with, to get in touch.”