Liberal Democrats launch manifesto housing pledge

12.00.00pm GMT Thu 14th Jan 2010

Too many empty homes

The Liberal Democrats today set out plans to bring a quarter of a million empty homes back into use, making homes available for people who need them and creating 65,000 jobs.

There are over 760,000 empty properties across England which are no longer used as homes but can be brought back into use with some investment. People who own these homes will get a grant or a cheap loan to renovate them so they can be used: grants if the home is for social housing, loans for private use.

The plans form part of the economic stimulus package outlined as a core principle of the Liberal Democrat election manifesto. In the first year of the new Parliament, the party would redirect over £3.6bn of spending to create jobs and build up Britain's infrastructure. In the following years this money will be redirected to other Lib Dem spending priorities and reducing the structural deficit.

Launching the pledge, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said:

"Allowing thousands of houses to sit empty when millions of families have been waiting years for a home is nothing short of a scandal. These plans are a clear example of where Liberal Democrat priorities lie: creating jobs and providing more family homes.

"The cost of bringing these homes back into use is just a fraction of the cost of build yet the Government is sitting idly by while they fall into disrepair. This is one element of our economic stimulus package that will generate jobs and help Britain on its way to building a fair, sustainable economy."

Prue Bray, Lib Dem PPC for Wokingham said "The figures show that there are 1585 properties standing empty in Wokingham Borough alone. They could provide homes for large numbers of people currently on the housing waiting list and unable to afford to buy. The charity Shelter recently reported that the waiting list for social housing in Wokingham has topped 2,500, with only 153 properties let by the Borough Council last year, meaning lots of people are facing a very long wait indeed. Bringing empty houses back into use would be a very cost-effective way to provide homes for people who really need them."

More information:

1. Creating more family homes

There were 1.8 m families on housing waiting lists in England in 2008. Yet the number of social homes has been allowed to fall by a million in the last decade. House building is unable to keep up with our growing need for housing but one in 30 homes (650,000 in England alone) is empty. The average cost to renovate them is £10,000 compared to £100,000 to build a new social home. It is also greener to renovate than build new.

2. Creating more jobs

Unemployment is 2.49 m and rising. The construction industry has been particularly hard hit, with predictions of up to 600,000 job losses in the sector. This plan forms part of the Liberal Democrats' economic stimulus and job creation package. In our first year in office we will redirect over £3.6bn of spending to creating jobs and building up Britain's infrastructure. In the following years this money will be redirected to other Lib Dem spending priorities and reducing the structural deficit.

We will allocate £1bn to grants to bring 100,000 homes into use as social housing. £400m will fund subsidised loans to bring 150,000 homes into use as private sector housing.

3. The Policy in detail

100,000 more social homes:

Local authorities and Housing Associations will bid for a portion of the £1bn social homes fund. They will be responsible for allocating this money in the form of grants of up to £10,000 per property - individuals and local authorities will be able to top this up to do further work if they choose. The money will be used either to renovate their own homes or by allocating it to individual property owners.

Grants will only be given to private owners if the home becomes social housing for at least 10 years. This would be attractive: they will get guaranteed rent, and £10,000 of government-funded improvements on a property which was otherwise empty. Rents will be set according to the local reference rent and the managing agent will take a fee.

There will be an opt-out so that local authorities and individuals have the option of paying back the grant, with interest, and withdrawing from the scheme. Right to Buy would apply as it currently does to council homes but tenants would not have a Right to Buy privately-owned homes being used as social housing under this scheme.

150,000 more private homes:

Local authorities will bid for a portion of the £400m Private Housing Fund to use as low cost loans of up to £10,000 for bringing empty homes back into use in the private sector. They will be responsible for allocating this money to individuals. Interest will only be charged on the loan at the rate of inflation, so there is no real-terms cost to the borrower. The presumption will be in favour of repayment over 10 years.

Jobs created:

The 50,000 directly created jobs would include: Plumbers, plasterers, electricians, floor layers and housing staff in local authorities. The 15,000 indirectly created jobs would include: removal staff, furniture shop staff, managing agent staff and water authority staff. To calculate these figures we worked from an average of figures obtained from Housing Co-operatives on recent renovation work.

Funding:

The economic stimulus package to create a fair and balanced economy with sustainable growth is funded by redirecting government spending. This includes removing Tax Credits from higher earners (£700m), scrapping the intercept modernisation program (£150m), restricting growth in the Train to Gain budget (£375m), scrapping the Child Trust Fund (£370m), cutting the Highways Agency Major Improvements Budget (£1,080m) and the introduction of a 10% banking levy (£1bn). In the first year of the new Parliament, the party would redirect this £3.6bn of spending to create jobs and build up Britain's infrastructure. In the following years this money will be redirected to other Lib Dem spending priorities and reducing the structural deficit.

Timing:

The homes would have to be brought back into use within a year of receiving the loan and the money would be available in the first two years of a Parliament.