Sixty five housing providers with 133 schemes are set to benefit from nearly £41m of empty homes funding, delivering almost 2,000 new affordable homes across England.
The allocations, announced by Communities Minister Don Foster MP and published by the Homes and Communities Agency, show that the Midlands and the North East Yorkshire and The Humber – areas with some of the greatest concentrations of empty homes - are collectively set to benefit from just over 50% of the funding (around £21m), across a range of projects.
The funding is the second round of empty homes funding being delivered by the HCA under the current Spending Period, and builds on the earlier round 1 allocations made by the Agency in March 2012. Priority for this second funding round was given to the refurbishment of empty commercial and non-residential properties. 35% of the allocations being made under this round are for non-residential properties.
Andy Rose, HCA chief executive, commenting on the allocations, said: “We had a very encouraging response to the funding across a wide range of types of property. This demonstrates a strong appetite and scope for bringing empty homes and properties back into use, which will deliver more affordable homes where they are most needed, and help to reinvigorate our communities and towns. We look forward to working with housing providers to bring these homes forward.”
Communities Minister Don Foster said: “The government is doing everything possible to tackle the problem of empty homes and urban blight. This funding will bring people, shops and jobs back to once abandoned areas, and provide extra affordable homes we badly need.”
