1,700 of London’s empty homes brought back to life

Over 1,700 of the capital’s abandoned, derelict and unused buildings have been brought back to life - providing urgently needed homes for hundreds of families across the city and revitalising communities, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson announced today.

Having trebled funding to £60m the Mayor plans through his London Housing Strategy, published today, to bring at least 3,000 of empty homes back into use. £39.9m of funding has so far been released to London’s boroughs, focused on bringing long-term unused, derelict and listed buildings at risk back into residential use to provide much-needed affordable homes, many of them family sized.  The work is also benefiting neighbourhoods by tackling properties that have become an eyesore and a magnet for anti-social behaviour.

The London Housing Strategy, the capital’s first statutory housing strategy, also aims to deliver 50,000 affordable homes before the Olympics, the most in a single Mayoral term, halve severe overcrowding by 2016, inject millions of pounds of funding to kickstart stalled regeneration projects, bring to an end rough sleeping in the capital and give London’s boroughs more say over delivering affordable homes in their areas.

The publication of the London Housing Strategy comes as figures from Communities and Local Government (CLG) show that London was the only region in England to see an increase in net housing supply last year, despite the severe economic conditions.  In England as a whole net housing supply was down by 20% between 2007/08 and 2008/09, but in London it was up by 3%.  The London Housing Strategy also complements the Mayor’s draft replacement London Plan which proposes the highest targets for the delivery of new homes for the capital than at any point since before the Greater London Council was set up in 1960s, including more affordable homes to be delivered each year than has been achieved since the GLA was established.  

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said:

 “ Good quality housing is the backbone of any great city and despite the recent economic maelstroms we remain on course to deliver a record number of affordable, quality homes.

“With so many people, particularly families, in need of a place to live it is absolutely unacceptable for potentially decent homes to stand empty.  Empty homes are not only a waste of resources but also a travesty for the communities around them.  They devalue neighbouring properties and for the people living near them they act as a magnet for crime. 

“Plans are already well under-foot to transform the quality and quantity of affordable housing in the capital and we are determined to make it easier for everyone to get the home they need. I am in no doubt that these 1700 resurrected buildings will not only help to change the lives of thousands of Londoners by providing them a home, but will also transform the communities they formerly blighted.”

Since coming to office the Mayor has

•     Delivered over 20,000 extra affordable homes for London, and remains on track to deliver the largest number of affordable homes in a single Mayoral term.

•     Eased overcrowding by ensuring that 37 per cent of the social rented homes are family sized, the biggest proportion in the last decade.

•     Brought 1775 empty homes back into use, many of which are family sized units.

•     Exceeded his target to deliver 1250 supported homes to meet the needs of older and vulnerable Londoners with funding for delivery of over 1900 units allocated.

•     Invested £221m in the London KickStart scheme with the Homes and Community Agency to support stalled regeneration schemes.

•     Set out proposed minimum standards, including space standards, for all new homes in his draft London Housing Design Guides.

•     Helped three-quarters of the capital’s most entrenched rough sleepers come indoors through the London Delivery Board set up to end rough sleeping in London by 2012

•     Increased opportunities for first time buyers on low and middle incomes through the First Steps programme.   The Mayor has also outlined plans to help families with dependents, who are in need of larger housing to meet their needs, to access intermediate housing. These are families unable to afford market housing because of London’s high house prices, who would otherwise put further demand on social housing.

•     Set up a pilot to devolve more responsibility for housing delivery to the boroughs.

•     Set up a task force to ensure that public sector land is brought forward in a way that supports the development of new homes.

Download the Mayor’s London Housing Strategy

Ends

Notes to editors

•     The Mayor’s London Housing Strategy is the first statutory housing strategy for London. In his election manifesto the Mayor pledged to tackle London’s empty homes problem.  His commitments included investing £60 million to bring empty homes back into use and an audit of long-term empty homes to help target action.

•    The Mayor has trebled investment in empty homes to £60m. Boroughs across the capital have so far received £39.25m to fund a range of practical measures to encourage owners to repair and bring their homes back into use with a further £20.75m identified and more funds to be released in the next few weeks.

•     An empty property can devalue neighbouring properties by as much as 18 per cent and a fifth of those living near an empty home believe that it attracts crime. (Source – London Housing Strategy P65)

•     The first ever London wide audit of empty homes is now underway, with the North London sub-region having already audited their empty homes.

•     Figures on the number of empty homes brought back into use during 2008/9 and the first three quarters of 2009/10 have been provided to the GLA by each of London's sub-regions.

•     Under the GLA Act 2007, the Mayor is responsible for producing a statutory London housing strategy and directing the use of public money for housing in the capital. By law, borough housing and housing-related strategies are required to be in general conformity with the housing strategy and the Homes and Communities Agency is required to have regard to it. The strategy has undergone two rounds of statutory consultation, first with the London Assembly and functional bodies and then with the public. The Assembly and functional body consultation draft was published in November 2008 and the public consultation draft in May 2009.

•     The document published today is London's first ever statutory housing strategy. A suite of related documents is being published alongside it, including:

     A delivery plan - setting out tasks and actions needed to implement each of the strategy’s policies, and the timescales and partners involved

     Guidance to inform boroughs about their requirement to be in general conformity with the London Housing Strategy.