Birmingham Council to bring back into use one empty home a day

On Thursday (December 12), Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPO) were completed on seven properties across Birmingham, this means that the council can bring these properties back into use as family homes. 

The council’s private sector empty property team works with owners in Birmingham to understand why these houses are lying empty, and then they encourage and educate the owners to do otherwise.

Where this fails, as a last resort the councils can use the CPO powers to bring the property back as a family home, this is part of their aim to bring back into use one empty home every day.

The seven properties that are in Handsworth, Selly Oak, Acocks Green, Kings Heath, Kitts Green, Bromford and Sutton Coldfield will now be sold at auction, with the requirements that the new owners must bring them back into use within 12 months.

Julie Griffin, acting director for housing at Birmingham City Council said: ‘I’m delighted that we’ve been able to get control of these seven houses.

‘In the middle of a national housing crisis and with families falling into homelessness, there shouldn’t be any empty properties in this city.

‘These are much-needed homes that have been left abandoned and neglected by the owners, which is completely unacceptable.

‘Empty homes like these are a magnet for crimes that can range from fly-tipping to anti-social behaviour as well as devaluing houses in their local community.

‘The neighbours of these homes have had to suffer the worry and anxiety that living adjacent to these eyesore properties has caused.

‘It’s crucial that we continue to fight this campaign to bring homes back into use and we’ll do all we can to support residents who report properties to our empty homes team.’

In related news, the charity Action on Empty Homes has published a new report which it calls an ‘action plan’ to tackle the issue of empty homes, which is now over 216,000.

The report, called ‘Community Action on Empty Homes’, says better partnerships must be forged between community-led projects, local councils and central government.

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