Brighton rejects empty homes plea

Green Party councillor Bill Randall put forward the motion. It asked the council to consider an audit of development sites to identify buildings left empty by the recession, and assess if they could be brought back into use on a temporary basis.

It also suggested the chief executive of the council write to the Homes and Communities Agency asking for short-life funding to make empty homes habitable, and to the three local MPs asking for them to support the funding bid.

The motion was rejected by one vote, after Conservative councillors voted against it. Brighton and Hove is a unitary authority with no party in overall control.

The motion stated that there are 11,000 households on the housing waiting lists in Brighton and Hove. Figures from 2007 show there were 2,434 empty homes in the city.

Maria Caulfield, the cabinet member for housing, said the council supported the intention of the motion, but it was ‘unrealistic’.

‘The majority of the empty properties are not council-owned and we would not necessarily be able to access these,’ she said.

‘They would also not necessarily meet the decent homes standard which would be against our temporary accommodation policy.

‘The council is working to set up a local delivery vehicle which would give us the money to bring council-owned major voids back into use and we do already work with the private sector to bring empty properties back into use, wherever we can.’

Inside Housing is running a campaign calling for empty homes to be brought back into use. For more information see our campaign page. You can express your support by signing our petition or emailing emptypromise@insidehousing.co.uk