TAMESIDE Council hopes to bring in a team to examine the borough’s empty properties in a bid to tackle homelessness.
The authority has found more than 1,500 in the borough stand unoccupied.
Now it is set to start an empty homes team with the hope of bringing about 150 of them back into its provision, with a cost benefit of more than £1.1 million.
A meeting of Tameside Council’s place and external relations scrutiny panel on Tuesday, October 21 will look into proposals to introduce the team of a technical officer, an empty homes officer and an empty homes enforcement officer.
A report details the reasons how many properties are empty, where and why, and what could be done to tackle the issue.
It states: “There are 1,562 empty dwellings within Tameside. All these properties are in varying council tax groupings, some are exempt, second homes and long-term empty properties.
“As a council we are in a challenging time ensuring we meet the needs of those most vulnerable in our communities by making available safe, secure, and affordable accommodation.
“As part of the wider plan to tackle homelessness, having an empty homes initiative is a vital part of that and will provide an addition tool to the council to increase supply of housing.
“There are empty homes in each of the 19 wards across the borough. The largest number which had been empty for six months or more were in St Peter’s, Ashton St Michael’s and Droylsden West.
“In each of these wards there were more than 60 homes which had been empty for six months or more.
“Very little is known about empty homeowners (EHOs), and the reasons for keeping their properties empty.
“The traditional enforcement led service designs fails to engage with owners and link them with the support available to return their homes back into use.
“EHOs represent one of the most hard-to-reach communities in that they are culturally and geographically diverse, and their reasons for owning an empty home varies significantly.
“Many 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 EHO cannot afford, before it can go on the property market.
“Financial modelling indicates that the potential cost benefit to the council would be £1.187,823.”
If brought in, the new team will work to bring together data and formulate bespoke plans for each empty residential property.
It would commence the inspections to determine property conditions, ownership and level of refurbishment required.
Once the properties are available, rent would be charged at a social rent level and tenants would be able to claim the local housing allowance rate.
Any top up would be paid by the tenant, mirroring the current arrangement Tameside Council in place with Jigsaw.
And the report adds why it can bring benefits to Tameside other than financial.
It continues: “Having an empty homes offer is not a statutory function of a local authority, however forms part of the solution to the lack of affordable, safe and secure housing available and there are clear financial and operational benefits to performing this function.
“Empty homes remains a top priority for both residents and members within Tameside and there is also a clear reputational element should no action be taken to reduce the number of empty dwellings within the borough.
“Tameside is facing a housing sufficiency challenge across all areas of the council where a statutory duty is owed, this includes Homelessness, Childrens Social Care and Adult Social Care.
“We must seize every opportunity to increase the flow of accommodation available to the council and empty homes work is just one strand to the bigger corporate response.
“The council is now at the beginning of an exciting transformation journey that includes the homelessness and housing-related functions.
“As part of this journey, a proposed management and staff structure provides a solid foundation for driving forward the extensive action plan within the strategy to ensure the service can meet the ever changing demands and supports the ambition that homelessness is rare, brief and non-recurring.”