Empty Homes Programme Stocktake Report

1. Empty Homes ProgrammeStocktake Report February 2014

2. Tackling Empty Homes is a Ministerial priority & numbers are reducing

3. Challenges and Successes Challenges Successes

4. The wider social benefits are a real success of scheme & should be celebrated

5. Measuring social impact is hard, but it can be done • Hard to achieve value for money with hard outputs alone, so must take wider benefits into account • Measuring outputs only tells half the story - measuring softer outcomes as well can present a more accurate assessment of success • Uncertainty exists about how to collect data on outcomes in robust format. • Some data has been provided by organisations, but has tended to be ad hoc and can be inconsistent • Social impacts are measured over long term & may be difficult to judge by 2015 • Hard to prove causal links between programme & wider social outcomes in crowded policy landscape

6. Identifying empty homes is difficult, with no guarantee of engaging with owners

7. Despite these issues, we identified lots of examples of best practice Delivery agents are using a variety of techniques to identify and engage with empty home owners

8. Enforcement is an essential tool for Local Authorities, but takes too long

9. There is scope and desire to build on existing good practice to develop stronger Programme coherence Good Practice, Knowledge Sharing & Information Provision is Taking Place However this is not consistent across all of the Programme

10. Our recommendations could enhance Programme delivery between now & 2015

11. Annex A – Wider Social Benefits Case Study The Grand Trunk Hotel - ARK Churches Wirral • Wirral Churches ARK & The Grand Trunk Hotel • Provides support & guidance to adults at risk of homelessness and assistance in finding suitable, long term accommodation • Received £105k from the Empty Homes Fund – used as part of £400k project • Took pub which was empty for nearly 10 years & created sheltered housing • Created six self contained flats for homeless people in need of long term support • Also created office space for organisation • Wider social benefits • Encountered problems with local community when project first agreed – campaign to try and block development supported by local councillor, as community were worried about the impact of sheltered accommodation in their neighbourhood • Wirral ARK worked hard to break down barriers with locals & put themselves at the heart of the community, including providing and maintaining hanging baskets on elderly residents’ homes • Have transformed a building that had blighted area for a number of years – at one stage having been taken over by Hell’s Angels who used it as a base for drug taking & other criminal activity • Have provided suitable accommodation for six homeless people. Flats are fully self contained and offer freedom & independence for residents, while removing some dependency on the welfare state • Working hard to become part of the local community built links and broke down opposition – This has enabled organisation, residents and community to benefit.

12. Annex B – Enforcement Case Study Newcastle City Council • Newcastle City Council Cluster Programme • £490k Empty Homes funding to deliver 116 empty homes • 4 clusters - 2 selective licensing areas with 600-1,000 private properties & 2 smaller areas • Funding used to finance grants & loans. Have found grants effective way to persuade owners to engage • More than 1,200 long term empties in Newcastle • 125 empties brought back into use by March 2014 • A multi option approach to enforcement • Enforcement is used to encourage empty home owners to engage with the programme. Newcastle City Council used the following approach on 18 properties, vacant for between 1 & 8 years, all owned by the same person: owner 1. Good condition no enforcement action undertaken 2. Tenant Finder Service offered (declined) 3. Lease and purchase options offered (declined) 4. Empty homes grants and loans offered (declined) 5. EDMO application started 6. Owner applies for grant assistance 7. EDMO application restarted 8. Tenant Finder Service re-offered This approach has created 5 properties competed, a further 5 under Renovation. No sign of first 5 being occupied (grant only paid on occupation)

13. Annex C – Flexibility Case StudyAGMA

14. Annex D – Flexibility Case Study Pennine Lancashire

15. Annex E – Joining Up Case Study HCA Yorkshire and Humber HCA Y&H has developed a Good Practice Group to build capacity and knowledge structures both for this Programme and beyond 2015. However, could only do this because of motivated individuals – Not as part of the Programme

16. Annex F– Our Research Using an agreed Questions Framework established from an analysis of major programme issues, we undertook a series of one hour face-to-face interviews with organisations from across the various strands of the Empty Homes Programme. Campaigning Groups and Networks Community Groups and Funders Local Authorities Windrush Alliance CIC South and South West East and South East Midlands Yorkshire and Humber North East North West Policy Team and Former Policy Team Members