Councils in the north and the midlands have topped a government league table which shows the best authorities at bringing empty homes back into use.
Top of the list is Birmingham Council which has turned 2,151 vacant properties into homes over the past two years, according to official figures. England’s largest local authority landlord is followed closely by Manchester, which brought 2,118 homes back into use.
In total, councils in England have helped convert 38,000 long-term vacant properties into homes, the Communities and Local Government figures show.
Communities minister Don Foster hailed the figures as proof that the government’s new homes bonus was succeeding. Under the bonus scheme local authorities reward councils for bringing empty properties back into use by match funding the additional council tax raised on the new home for the following six years. Birmingham will receive £391,000 of bonus payment from the government for its efforts.
All of this is happeneing when a number of councils – all with tight budgets are considering increasing financial penalties on their empty homes to add an additional incentive to absent owners