I would like to hear from local authorities who have agreed to allocate some of the NHB monies towards resourcing identification and putting back into use of empty properties - and what they have secured.
Anne,
A deafining silence to your query!. Maybe most are like us here at Luton, the whole NHB of 500k+ was swept into the general fund.
I wonder if we as an organisation are doing anything about this? I understand that we are not alone?
Paul Palmer
Empty Property Consultant www.paulpalmer-emptyproperties.co.uk
Associate of the Empty homes Agency
Currently working at Corby, East Northants and Wellingborough.
Submitted by David Gibbens on 6 June, 2011 - 19:59.
Paul
So far we as an organisation have not done anything to promote the use of NHB to support empty homes work but I agree that we should do so. Organising the conference and the forthcoming Executive meeting have absorbed a lot of time recently but this should be a high priority.
Obviously we need to emphasise the financial benefits of investing in empty homes work to generate New Homes Bonus, but we also need to be realistic about the fact that our work may not lead to a reduction in the number of empty homes but simply prevent the number going up (or, worse, prevent it going up as much as it might otherwise have done). That is a harder message to sell.
I think we need a focused two-sides of A4 that is aimed at the senior echelons of local authorities spelling out the case for supporting empty homes work while politely suggesting that if they are not investing in it then their tax-paying residents might legitimately feel let down. So I had better get that on my to-do list! The question is whether we should be sending out letters to Chief Execs, Chief Housing Officers, Chief Finance Officers, Leader of Councils or whatever, or some kind of flier or just an email. We do not currently have the capability to do any of those things, lacking email addresses, postal addresses, names, and the capacity (if needed) to stuff, stamp and address hundreds of envelopes. It is not something to be undertaken lightly.
I don't suppose the great and the good will see anything wrong in the NHB being "swept into" the General Fund though. That is really the only place it can go. It is what comes back out of the General Fund that we need to focus on.
I agree with David G, but don't think EHN needs to do all the donkey work.
I was going to suggest next week that 'EHN' drafts a template letter/memo that each EHN member can top/tail/amend and despatch to les grandes fromages that DG mentions plus Lead Councillors for Housing, Communties, Regeneration, Neighbourhoods and Finance. The thrust of the template should be, "failure to invest in EP work can seriously damage your income. This is how we can help you protect your new build NHB income"
I have been briefing my Heads of Housing/Finance/Environment about NHB for months. They now know that NHB does not reward output, but that EH work can help protect new homes winnings.
Though our NHB allocation is in the general fund, that doesn't mean the case is lost. Also, just because other money, such as s106 contributions, may be sitting in a Capital Building Programme Budget, doesn't mean it is alllocated and going to be spent - I don't see a mass of affodable housebuilding schemes kicking off here at the mo.
We have time to make our cases, and it wouldbe good if between us we can provide material that currently under-resourced Empty Property Officers could use.
I think Paul's comment will reflect the common experience, and that there needs to be a degree of realism in the expectations surrounding NHB. In Barrow, it is extremely unlikely that any of the fund will be ring fenced for any specific purpose, be it empty homes or anything else. It will simply be part of our revenue budget, and will be used to help balance the budget in the testing future of cuts that we face.
I think that it is also pertinent to raise a broader point about NHB. The Government has set aside £1bn over four years to cover NHB. Any allocation of NHB over and above this will come from reductions in formula grant. The allocations for 2011/12 across England total just under £200m (i.e.£1.2bn over six years). If we assume that similar allocations in future years, then the total paid out in future years will be:
2012/13 - £400m
2013/14 - £600m
2014/15 - £800m
This will be a cumulative sum of £2bn - twice the amount set aside. Bear in mind that if the policy succeeds in its objective of increasing housing supply, these numbers will be even larger. This being the case, NHB will increasingly become part of Local Authorities' core revenue settlement, as formula grant will have to reduce, not an additional allocation to be set aside for special purposes, unless LAs can cut expenditure elsewhere.
Any additional expenditure on empty homes is likely to have to be justified on a cost / benefit basis. Spending (relatively) small amounts on an enforcement-based approach might be easier to justify than increasing a grants budget, which will be more costly. Furthermore, an individual grant may end up being more than the resulting NHB from bringing a property back into use. The one lever that empty homes officers do have is that if they can show that they are bringing 20-30 properties a year back into use (even if this is by verifying/cleansing Council Tax records) they are more than paying for themselves.
Grateful to Chris Jones for a careful analysis of the situation - and agree that the enforcement-based approach might be easier to justify,
Anne Gray
West London Private Sector Housing Coordinator
RF Training said, "Councils have received government payments of up to £4m for the first year of the New Homes Bonus Scheme. This is a big boost for those on Plumbing courses and other associated courses as the encouragement by the government to create new homes increases the demand for qualified plumbers"
East Cambridgeshire Council - The Council also plans to set £900,000 aside from the Government’s New Homes Bonus initiative to pump prime the new District Leisure Centre.
Tonbridge and Malling Council is avoiding any cuts to front line services by finding efficiency savings and having planned ahead. Furthermore they are using the New Homes Bonus to increase support for the voluntary sector.
CIH - "New Homes Bonus may help offset s106 losses"
Grant Shapps, 24/2/11, "Thanks to the New Homes Bonus a new five a side pitch doesn't need to be a football fantasy if it's what the community needs and wants."
CLG - "Communities themselves will decide how to spend this extra funding - whether council tax discounts for local residents, boosting frontline services like rubbish collection or providing local facilities like swimming pools and leisure centres."
Larry Vaughn, Mayor of Royston Vasey - "We're using the New Homes Bogus to support our Local Shop for local people"
So far, we believe we will be using our NHB this year to support affordable housing provision in some way. Following years are undecided.
Hurray for Royston Vasey. Now all they need is a local person volunteering their time to run local community support activities for local people in the local shop for local people and there we have localism in action.
Submitted by VickyLJackson on 23 June, 2011 - 16:39.
We are trying to get our heads around several issues in relation to NHB. I wondered if anyone has any comments on the issues raised below;
HSSA
I have just found out that the HSSA guidance has changed this year to collect and include empty properties with exemption codes D,E,I,J,H and K. I wondered if anyone knew what (if any) impact this would have on next years payments from NHB?
Demolitions
The House of Commons Library Document on NHB from April of this year states that" these statistics measure additional affordable supply on a gross basis and do not deduct demolitions or other losses to stock. Local Authorities will therefore receive the enhancement for all new affordable homes regardless of whether there have been any reductions to stock." Has anything else been raised in relation to this, or is this still correct?
Empty Homes and New Builds
I am also interested if anyone has had much success promoting the empty property side of the NHB within their Authority? It seems that many Authorities are concentrating on new builds and not considering the impact of bringing empty homes back into use.
Costs for keeping a property Empty
I am looking to do some analysis into the costs of keeping a property empty for an authority in terms of lost revenue from Council Tax (at Stockton we still allow a 50% discount), the costs to services for securing, ASB such as fly tipping, vandalism etc, pests, drainage etc. If anyone has done something similar I would be very interested to find this out.
Submitted by VickyLJackson on 23 June, 2011 - 16:39.
We are trying to get our heads around several issues in relation to NHB. I wondered if anyone has any comments on the issues raised below;
HSSA
I have just found out that the HSSA guidance has changed this year to collect and include empty properties with exemption codes D,E,I,J,H and K. I wondered if anyone knew what (if any) impact this would have on next years payments from NHB?
Demolitions
The House of Commons Library Document on NHB from April of this year states that" these statistics measure additional affordable supply on a gross basis and do not deduct demolitions or other losses to stock. Local Authorities will therefore receive the enhancement for all new affordable homes regardless of whether there have been any reductions to stock." Has anything else been raised in relation to this, or is this still correct?
Empty Homes and New Builds
I am also interested if anyone has had much success promoting the empty property side of the NHB within their Authority? It seems that many Authorities are concentrating on new builds and not considering the impact of bringing empty homes back into use.
Costs for keeping a property Empty
I am looking to do some analysis into the costs of keeping a property empty for an authority in terms of lost revenue from Council Tax (at Stockton we still allow a 50% discount), the costs to services for securing, ASB such as fly tipping, vandalism etc, pests, drainage etc. If anyone has done something similar I would be very interested to find this out.
New Homes Bocus
Paul Palmer
Empty Property Consultant
www.paulpalmer-emptyproperties.co.uk
Associate of the Empty homes Agency
Currently working at Corby, East Northants and Wellingborough.
What should EHN do
Paul
So far we as an organisation have not done anything to promote the use of NHB to support empty homes work but I agree that we should do so. Organising the conference and the forthcoming Executive meeting have absorbed a lot of time recently but this should be a high priority.
Obviously we need to emphasise the financial benefits of investing in empty homes work to generate New Homes Bonus, but we also need to be realistic about the fact that our work may not lead to a reduction in the number of empty homes but simply prevent the number going up (or, worse, prevent it going up as much as it might otherwise have done). That is a harder message to sell.
I think we need a focused two-sides of A4 that is aimed at the senior echelons of local authorities spelling out the case for supporting empty homes work while politely suggesting that if they are not investing in it then their tax-paying residents might legitimately feel let down. So I had better get that on my to-do list! The question is whether we should be sending out letters to Chief Execs, Chief Housing Officers, Chief Finance Officers, Leader of Councils or whatever, or some kind of flier or just an email. We do not currently have the capability to do any of those things, lacking email addresses, postal addresses, names, and the capacity (if needed) to stuff, stamp and address hundreds of envelopes. It is not something to be undertaken lightly.
I don't suppose the great and the good will see anything wrong in the NHB being "swept into" the General Fund though. That is really the only place it can go. It is what comes back out of the General Fund that we need to focus on.
David Gibbens (EHN Policy and Support)
What should we do ...
I agree with David G, but don't think EHN needs to do all the donkey work.
I was going to suggest next week that 'EHN' drafts a template letter/memo that each EHN member can top/tail/amend and despatch to les grandes fromages that DG mentions plus Lead Councillors for Housing, Communties, Regeneration, Neighbourhoods and Finance. The thrust of the template should be, "failure to invest in EP work can seriously damage your income. This is how we can help you protect your new build NHB income"
I have been briefing my Heads of Housing/Finance/Environment about NHB for months. They now know that NHB does not reward output, but that EH work can help protect new homes winnings.
Though our NHB allocation is in the general fund, that doesn't mean the case is lost. Also, just because other money, such as s106 contributions, may be sitting in a Capital Building Programme Budget, doesn't mean it is alllocated and going to be spent - I don't see a mass of affodable housebuilding schemes kicking off here at the mo.
We have time to make our cases, and it wouldbe good if between us we can provide material that currently under-resourced Empty Property Officers could use.
Nick P-G
Reading BC
01189373091
Use of New Homes Bonus for empty property work
I think Paul's comment will
New Homes Bonus
Other suggestions for New Homes Bonus
One of these is made up.
RF Training said, "Councils have received government payments of up to £4m for the first year of the New Homes Bonus Scheme. This is a big boost for those on Plumbing courses and other associated courses as the encouragement by the government to create new homes increases the demand for qualified plumbers"
East Cambridgeshire Council - The Council also plans to set £900,000 aside from the Government’s New Homes Bonus initiative to pump prime the new District Leisure Centre.
Tonbridge and Malling Council is avoiding any cuts to front line services by finding efficiency savings and having planned ahead. Furthermore they are using the New Homes Bonus to increase support for the voluntary sector.
The Sun - "Fill empty homes and get tax cut" http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3339389/Fill-empty-homes-and-get-tax-cut.html
CIH - "New Homes Bonus may help offset s106 losses"
Grant Shapps, 24/2/11, "Thanks to the New Homes Bonus a new five a side pitch doesn't need to be a football fantasy if it's what the community needs and wants."
CLG - "Communities themselves will decide how to spend this extra funding - whether council tax discounts for local residents, boosting frontline services like rubbish collection or providing local facilities like swimming pools and leisure centres."
Larry Vaughn, Mayor of Royston Vasey - "We're using the New Homes Bogus to support our Local Shop for local people"
Nick P-G
Reading BC
01189373091
NHB
So far, we believe we will be using our NHB this year to support affordable housing provision in some way. Following years are undecided.
Hurray for Royston Vasey. Now all they need is a local person volunteering their time to run local community support activities for local people in the local shop for local people and there we have localism in action.
Various Questions
We are trying to get our heads around several issues in relation to NHB. I wondered if anyone has any comments on the issues raised below;
HSSA
I have just found out that the HSSA guidance has changed this year to collect and include empty properties with exemption codes D,E,I,J,H and K. I wondered if anyone knew what (if any) impact this would have on next years payments from NHB?
Demolitions
The House of Commons Library Document on NHB from April of this year states that" these statistics measure additional affordable supply on a gross basis and do not deduct demolitions or other losses to stock. Local Authorities will therefore receive the enhancement for all new affordable homes regardless of whether there have been any reductions to stock." Has anything else been raised in relation to this, or is this still correct?
Empty Homes and New Builds
I am also interested if anyone has had much success promoting the empty property side of the NHB within their Authority? It seems that many Authorities are concentrating on new builds and not considering the impact of bringing empty homes back into use.
Costs for keeping a property Empty
I am looking to do some analysis into the costs of keeping a property empty for an authority in terms of lost revenue from Council Tax (at Stockton we still allow a 50% discount), the costs to services for securing, ASB such as fly tipping, vandalism etc, pests, drainage etc. If anyone has done something similar I would be very interested to find this out.
Thanks
Vicky Jackson
Stockton Borough Council
emptyproperty@stockton.gov.uk
Various Questions
We are trying to get our heads around several issues in relation to NHB. I wondered if anyone has any comments on the issues raised below;
HSSA
I have just found out that the HSSA guidance has changed this year to collect and include empty properties with exemption codes D,E,I,J,H and K. I wondered if anyone knew what (if any) impact this would have on next years payments from NHB?
Demolitions
The House of Commons Library Document on NHB from April of this year states that" these statistics measure additional affordable supply on a gross basis and do not deduct demolitions or other losses to stock. Local Authorities will therefore receive the enhancement for all new affordable homes regardless of whether there have been any reductions to stock." Has anything else been raised in relation to this, or is this still correct?
Empty Homes and New Builds
I am also interested if anyone has had much success promoting the empty property side of the NHB within their Authority? It seems that many Authorities are concentrating on new builds and not considering the impact of bringing empty homes back into use.
Costs for keeping a property Empty
I am looking to do some analysis into the costs of keeping a property empty for an authority in terms of lost revenue from Council Tax (at Stockton we still allow a 50% discount), the costs to services for securing, ASB such as fly tipping, vandalism etc, pests, drainage etc. If anyone has done something similar I would be very interested to find this out.
Thanks
Vicky Jackson
Stockton Borough Council
emptyproperty@stockton.gov.uk