Huppert Congratulates City And Quizzes Government On Empty Homes

MP Julian Huppert has quizzed the government on how Cambridge can access its £150 million empty homes fund to bring disused houses back into use.

He raised the question with Communities and Local Government Minister, Andrew Stunnell as work continues by Cambridge City Council to make empty homes available to families on its waiting list.

And he praised City Council Leader, Sian Reid and her Deputy Catherine Smart, who has responsibility for housing, in their work on empty homes.

Julian asked Mr Stunnell: “Will he join me in congratulating Sian Reid and Catherine Smart from Cambridge City Council for their work in reducing the number of empty homes in Cambridge since 2004?

He went on: “The government’s £150 million Empty Homes Fund is welcome but how can Cambridge City Council access this in order to bring even more empty homes back into use?”

Mr Stunnell told him: “For the £100 million announced for providing affordable homes, local authority bids will be invited shortly and I hope Cambridge will be right there.

“For the £50 million for empty homes to tackle the worst concentration of empty homes, we are currently drawing up the criteria. I know that a number of community and voluntary groups in the East of England have their eyes on Cambridge as well.”

Later Julian said: “Cambridge City Council has done some excellent work in bringing empty homes back into use for families who need a permanent place to live.

“I am delighted the government is making money available for this purpose; it shows its true commitment to this problem. I would urge anyone who knows of a property which has been empty for a while to get in touch with the city council so that action can be taken to make it a home again.”

Figures released by the Empty Homes Agency show that there were 1,172 empty homes in the Cambridge in 2010 and 364 of these were long term vacant. The figure has fallen, however, from 1,428 in 2004.
Cambridge City Council has over 7,000 people on its waiting list for homes and works with private landlords to try to make empty homes available.

Julian is supporting a campaign launched through the website www.reportemptyhomes.com which encourages people to report empty houses across the country.

Hawkins Road improvements

City Homes are about to start consultation on works to improve the Hawkins Road area, including Wilson, Atkins and Larkin.

If you live in the Hawks area then please use the consulation to let City Homes know your view on the proposed works.

The results of consultations are very important: proposed changes to recycling in Nuns Way were changed recently following a big response to consultation and the work of your local LibDem City Councillors.

The improvements are part of the Cambridge Standard Improvement Programme of the City Council which aims to raise the standard of the City's Council House stock. Whilst we're on the topic I must mention (again!) the superb inspection result. I have been told that the report is the best given to a council who retain their stock!

Possible social housing behind Beale Way?

As part of the strategic plan to identify possible new sites to provide more social housing in an attempt to being down the Council's waiting list for homes two sites have been identified in King's Hedges.

One is on the open ground behind Beale Way. Investigation will begin in January as to whether this site is suitable.

As local councillors we will ensure the views of local residents are taken into account, and we are concerned about the possible loss of a play area. However unless and until more details come forward we will need to keep an open mind.

It should be stressed that no decisions have been made! We are at the start of a city wide process.

We are keen to hear from people about this issue. I've already had meetings with some residents in the area.

The other site in King's Hedges in Roman Courts. These need modernising and investigation of the best way to proceed will take place next year. During the time this takes there is a plan to use the properties to house key workers in other sheltered housing schemes. Please get in touch with any concerns.

Homelink: Local Lettings Policies

I recently spoke to a local resident about an apparent oddity in the results of allocations in Homelink in South Cambs. A priority B resident was given a home in Arbury Park ahead of a city resident in band A. I did some investigation and felt it worthwhile to share the results more widely.

This was a result of a Local Letting Policy used by the Social Landlord (RSL) who run the housing on the Arbury Park development. They are giving priority for the South Cambs allocation to people who have a family connection to Histon or Impington. They are also giving priority for the houses allocated to Cambridge residents to those with Arbury and King's Hedges connections. Some of the policies are also aimed to ensure that there is a 'good balance' of families in the development.

The priority to village residents policies might make sense when the developments are actually in the villages, rather than over the A14 and seen by most as part of the neighbouring City. I will ensure that they are looked at in the six month review, but the policies are set by RSLs who don't have to be part of the Homelink scheme.

Tenants paying £195,816,938: The National Negative Subsidy!

Regular readers will be aware of the negative subsidy system and how this year it is costing Cambridge Council Tenants around £12million, around £3million from King's Hedges.

The claimed logic behind the scheme was that money from council tenants in wealthy areas could be used to help other council tenants in other areas. This has now been blown out of the water as nearly £200million is being kept by the Treasury from the fund that was supposed to be distributed to other councils.

In fact it always was a stealth tax to cover the fact the Labour government wasn't willing to improve the lot of those in poor conditions in a fair way. Now it is clear that it is just a stealth tax to help the Treasury out of a hole.

Lembit Opik MP, the Liberal Democrat shadow Housing Minister, observes that "following the 10p tax debacle, and now a massive tenant tax, it's clear that this is a government that is prepared to take from those who can least afford it just to balance its own books."

This tax is preventing us, and other council's including those who are supposed to get money under the system, from investing properly in our stock.

This is at a time when 1.67 million people are on waiting lists. A figure that is 60% higher than when Labour took office.

The LibDem policy is clear and summed up by Lembit: "It's time to scrap the tenant tax."

This press release summarises our policies, but to see in more detail what we'd do if we were in government have a look at our policy papers, particularly on housing and affordable homes.

Cambridge Standard Funding: Hawkins Road

On Tuesday the Housing Management Board of the City Council agreed a £44,000 project to try and improve the state of the flats in Hawkins Road (including those on Atkins, Larkin and so on).

The money will be spent on various work needed in the area: ranging from planting, to improved paths, doors, benches and windows and locks.

This is a very welcome investment in this area, one that needs a little help to get it towards the standard we want for Cambridge council housing. The hope is that raising the standard will get more residents involved as well.

Credit is due to the Hawks Resident group who have worked hard to get this work done: Especially to Kay!

One slight disappointment is that the work doesn't include the garage block, so I shall continue to campaign for these improvements.

If you feel that your estate would benefit from similar work next year, please get in touch with us. The HMB works with housing officers and tenants to prioritise areas.

This year we have funded three projects: as well as Hawkins, money has been spent on Maitland Avenue flats (in East Chesterton) and Ekin Rd (in Abbey).

Of course the amount we can spend on these projects is heavily limited by the nearly £12 million we have to give to Gordon Brown in negative subsidy. I was pleased to learn at the HMB that tenant's representatives will be lobbying parliament on this issue on Monday.

Cambridge Law Centre Outreach Advice

At last night's North Area Committee, we voted to approve a grant of £1500 towards Advice for Life, who's Cambridge Law Centre Outreach sessions help those who need advice on a range of issues, including benefits, housing and debt.

Both myself, the rest of the team here in King's Hedges and the Committee feel it's an important project that provides an immensely valuable service to the community.

Their outreach sessions are held twice monthly, the next ones being on the 2nd and 16th July, 10am - 12pm at Brown's Field Community Centre, and 1:30pm - 3:30pm at Meadow's Community Centre. To make an appointment, contact the Cambridge Law Centre on 01223 712 222. You can drop in without an appointment, but they can't guarantee you'll be seen, so it's best to drop them a line first.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Councillor Clare Blair for her work in ensuring that these outreach sessions are available and continue.

Choice Based Letting: Going live next week

There is a big change in how social housing is allocated next week with the launch of Home-Link, the Cambridge Choice Based Letting Scheme (CBL).

This means that from next week instead of going on the waiting list until a house is allocated to you, people on the housing needs register can "bid" for the houses that become available, up to three of their choice each fortnight. The houses will be allocated based on the four priority bands (from A ("urgent") to D) and then based upon how long the bidder has been on the list.

Each fortnight a magazine (available at City Homes North and Arbury Library in our area) will be issued, and the houses will go on the Home-Link website, and a bidding round will take place by web, SMS, phone, post or in person. The first bidding round is next week!

Help with bidding will be available at City Homes North, and from voluntary organisations such as the Citzens Advice Bureau and Cambridge Law Centre.

From the second issue there will be a report: this will allow those on the list to see the need band and the time that the successful bidders had been waiting.

Covering Cambridge City Council houses, and residential social landlords and Council stock in 6 neighbouring local authorities, this is one of the larger CBL schemes in the country, and as far as we know the first to cover a mix of urban and rural districts.

A word of warning: the scheme doesn't create any new homes: we still have around 6000 people on the waiting list in total. Further Cambridge has just under 300 people in band A (Urgent) and just under 300 in band B (High) at any time but only around 600 homes are available each year. That figure includes sheltered housing and bedsits. There is still huge demand for our limited stock.

However the advantages are that now prospective tenants have more choice in the houses they will live in, can see more clearly what is available for tenants, and can see clearly how long people are waiting to get housed.

Second reading for "Cambridge Rule" bill

In slightly better news, a private members bill in the Houses of Parliament, which aims to allow local authorities to set higher minimum energy standards for new builds, has got a second reading.


This is nick-named the Cambridge Rule as we were the city council that tried to include such a requirement in our local planning rules but were overruled by a government inspector who felt that it was "unreasonable" to expect higher standards.


The better the build standard the lower the heating bill and the easier to keep the house warm!



The Government's support for this bill (or not) will be an indication of how real their environmental credentials are. We'll keep you posted on how things develop...