A win-win way to tackle West Dorset’s empty homes
Friday, January 15th, 2010The Liberal Democrats have announced how they would 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 906 empty homes in West Dorset. Many of these properties can be brought back into use with some investment. Under Liberal Democrat proposals, people who own these homes will get a grant or a low cost loan to renovate them so they can be used.
Dr Sue Farrant, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for West Dorset, believes that the shortage of housing for local people is one of the most important issues facing the area. “There are currently 2,342 people on West Dorset District Council’s housing register waiting for homes and 906 houses and flats standing empty,” she said, “A great many local people have already had to leave the area because they can’t find anywhere to live at a price they can afford.
“We need to find ways to encourage the owners of these empty properties to bring them up to a good standard and then rent them out. That way, the owners get an income and someone gets a home.”
Dr Farrant, who works in social housing says that building a new house costs on average ten times more than renovating an existing property. Bringing empty homes back into use will help local people to stay near their families and to take up local jobs, will give a boost to the hard-hit construction industry and is more environmentally friendly than new-build.
