Community groups will be allowed to bid for money to refurbish empty homes on government and public land, the communities minister said
Andrew Stunell published details of the community grants fund t. It will allow registered charities, social enterprises or community interest companies to bid for a portion of the £100 million pot. Community groups will receive between £10 million and £30 million, depending on the take up. Bidding will end on 17 April.
The government had previously said the £100 million would bring 3,300 homes back into use by 2015. There is no indication about how many of these would be achieved by community groups. The funding can be used to acquire properties currently owned by public bodies, such as the NHS, government departments, unregistered landlords and private individuals. The properties will have had to have been empty for a significant period of time, probably around two years. ‘The expectation is that they would remain so without this funding,’ the document said.
Empty homes which have previously been let as social housing and which have already had public housing subsidy will not be eligible for funding.
Applicants to the fund will need to demonstrate how they will identify and bring forward empty properties, and how these fit in with the local authority’s wider housing strategy.
Housing charities HACT and Self Help Housing are running a series of briefing events aimed at helping community-led-organisations with bidding and securing allocations.