Bristol City Council Homeless Households Benefit from Empty Properties Scheme

Homeless households in Bristol, will benefit from a scheme that brings empty properties back into operation.

Bristol City Council, is working with housing providers and social enterprises to renovate 91 mostly terraced houses. The homes were purchased during the 60s and 70s but have stood empty for some time awaiting renovations.

Six houses have now been leased to Ashley Community Housing and 1625 Independent People on ten year leases  and minimal rents provided the organisations complete the renovations themselves.

A 26 homes that the council have renovated are being used as temporary accommodation and another 14 will be available in the near future.

Cabinet Member for homes and communities, Cllr Paul Smith said: “When we have a national housing crisis and a huge local demand for homes we need to be looking at this issue from every angle. We want to hear from organisations who’d like to work with us on getting empty properties back into use. We recognise the value of taking a collaborative approach to tackling this issue so our door is open. We inherited a policy of auctioning these homes to the highest bidder because they were deemed too expensive to repair, but we have demonstrated that these homes can be retained by the council and brought back into use.”