Council budgets and spending Empty homes consultation

Proposal

On the 29 February 2024, the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy 2024/25 – 2028/29 (MTFS) was approved. The MTFS includes a proposal to save a total of £91,660 by the 31 March 2026 (£44,650 in 2024/25 and £47,010 in 2025/26) by ceasing to provide a dedicated Empty Homes function.  The Council is not legally required to provide this function; it is discretionary and we, therefore, have the choice whether to fund its delivery.   

The core function is currently delivered through two dedicated Empty Homes posts: 0.8 fte permanent professional officer post and 1.0 fte technical officer fixed term post. The contract for the fixed term post is due to end on 8 January 2025. A small proportion of other officers’ time, estimated to be no more than 0.1 fte, provides support to and management of the function.  

Ceasing the Empty Homes function to deliver the £91,660 saving will see the permanent professional officer post being made redundant and the technical officer fixed-term post will not be renewed.  It is anticipated that should the proposal to remove the dedicated Empty Homes posts be approved, there would also be a potential saving in relation to the associated management costs.

Empty homes are recognised as a wasted resource, depriving people of a home and contributing to the need for more housing.  It is only when properties stay empty longer than six months without any obvious signs of renovation or rental that they become true empty homes. Whilst the majority are held empty for legitimate reasons, such as the progress of conveyancing for sale, or probate following the death of an owner, in the worst cases they can become a blight on local communities and may prevent investment in the area.  

It's estimated that in 2020 there were more than 1,700 empty properties in Shropshire and of these, approximately 600 had been empty for at least two years.  As at the end of March 2024, the overall number of empty properties has increased to 2,004 and the number empty for at least two years has reduced to 550.

It's known from the work of the Empty Homes Officers that the reduction in the number of those empty homes that have been empty for at least two years cannot wholly be attributed to the work of the Empty Homes officers. Nevertheless, in the previous three years, 87 homes (an average of 29 per year) have been brought back into use as a result of direct interventions by the Empty Homes Officers. This is across all empty homes and not only those that have been empty for at least two years. It's also known that other properties have been brought back into use through non-Council related interventions. On this basis, it is reasonable to presume that whilst removing the dedicated empty homes resource is likely to mean the number of empty homes will not decrease, it also remains a reasonable assumption that a proportion will continue to be brought back into use.

Impacts

The delivery of the council’s Housing Strategy 2020 - 2025 and its associated Empty Homes Strategy 2022 - 2025 will both be directly impacted by the council’s proposal to cease resourcing the dedicated Empty Homes function. 

Further information on the development of these strategies can be found in the respective Cabinet reports on 18 January 2021 (Agenda Item 8) and 30 November 2022 (Agenda Item 89).