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Empty council homes in Pimlico |
300 COUNCIL HOMES ARE LEFT EMPTY
‘Problem’ properties vacant as thousands wait on list to be housed
COUNCIL houses are being left empty across the borough – in some cases for as long as four years – despite the massive waiting list for properties.
The addresses of 300 vacant council houses have been disclosed through a Freedom of Information Act request by the West End Extra and show that one housing estate in Pimlico has been blighted by more than 15 boarded-up properties.
The size of the list has been called a “scandal” by MP Karen Buck, who hit out at Westminster Council for failing to “get on top” of the problem which is costing housing chiefs a fortune in lost rents.
City Hall says the average turnaround time for an empty property is 25 days, which it claims covers all but 39 “problem” properties.
There are more than 10,000 people waiting for a council home in a borough with a stock of just 26,000 houses. Around 1,000 households are living in overcrowded conditions.
Costly repair work, pending redevelopment and conversions explain the vacancies, say the ?council. The majority are in crumbling Victorian terraces deemed unsafe to live in.
The worst-hit areas are in the borough’s most deprived neighbourhoods: Queen’s Park, Harrow Road, Churchill (Pimlico), Westbourne and Church Street. In Peabody Avenue, Pimlico, an entire block has stood empty for more than two years. Juniper House in Fourth Avenue, Queen’s Park, Westbourne Park Villas and Gloucester Terrace in Paddington have more than five vacant flats.
Despite some families waiting as long as five years for a home, the council has defended its record of delivering social housing, trumpeting next year’s community build programme that will provide 500 new affordable homes across the borough.
Ms Buck, MP for Regent’s Park and Kensington North, said: “It’s a scandal. It simply beggars belief. Having one council house standing empty is one too many, but 300 is simply unacceptable, especially with the overcrowding problem we have in the borough. You don’t walk round Kensington and Chelsea and see boarded-up homes. Why should you here?
“Everyone knows vacant properties cause problems, especially the people living nearby. They are a magnet for crime, they reinforce social exclusion for the remaining residents and in some cases they have a domino effect on the neighbourhood.
“I know of one house by the Harrow Road which has been boarded-up for four years. The council needs to get a grip on the management of these properties. Building new homes is needed, but it seems utterly crazy when we’ve got 300 sitting there.”
Responsibility for council homes and their upkeep falls to a number of private contractors, the biggest of which is the arm’s length management organisation CityWest Homes. Of the 300 vacant homes, 193 are managed by CityWest.
Conservative cabinet member for housing Philippa Roe said: “Actually the figure is very misleading and I think Labour have jumped on it. It’s just churning numbers. If you look beyond the figure, what we actually have is 39 long-term voids.
“They suffer from structural and subsidence problems or are being converted to ease the major overcrowding problem we have. The rest are all turned around in 25 days, with about £5,000 spent on repairs.” |
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