More initiatives underway to make use of an increasing number of empty properties
There are enough empty homes in England alone to house the whole population of the Republic of Ireland. A new website, Self-Help-Housing.Org, provides ordinary people, who are perhaps unable to access mainstream housing or who want to tackle local problems, with the tools to take on and make use of the increasing number of empty properties in our cities, towns and villages.
Local authorities across the UK are tackling the problem of the homes currently lying empty – homes considered a blight on the community but which, if restored, could provide badly needed housing. Greenwich council, for example, is threatening to force the sale of empty property.
There are an estimated 80,000 empty homes in London alone. Last year, Mayor Boris Johnson announced a £60 million drive to bring them back into use. That money became available to councils in April.
The Mayor is on course to meet his manifesto pledge to invest a total of £60 million new funding to bring over 3,400 empty homes back into use by 2011. London boroughs have now received over £39 million from the Mayor and he has promised a further £21 million in 2010/11 to fund a range of practical measures to encourage owners to repair and bring their homes back into use.
Empty properties damage communities, giving out a signal that a neighbourhood is failing. They attract more antisocial behaviour the longer they stay empty, and are more likely to end up completely unusable.
Whether for political or economic reasons, many owners - such as local get people into authorities - sit paralysed, while the indirect knock-on community costs of these empty properties grow. Market value is often considered more important than 'use value'.
Self- help housing is all about use value. It's grassroots, gritty and exciting. It generates opportunities for hands-on training and is community-based.
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