New life hope for city’s empty homes

Members of Bradford Council’s executive, which meets on Tuesday, will be asked to give the go-ahead for it to agree a contract with a social landlord to provide 120 affordable homes.

Bradford has a significant number of empty properties and the council has been working to reduce this number, with 1,200 being brought back into use in the last two years.

The council, in partnership with the social landlord Incommunities, has been awarded £900,000 from the Homes and Communities Agency for the scheme. The plans will mean empty home owners have the chance to lease their properties for affordable housing for a minimum of five years and access funding to bring their property up to the decent homes standard required in the social housing sector.

Once the houses are up to scratch, the new tenants will pay a rent which is 80 per cent of the market rent. If approved, the 120 homes will be brought back into use between 2012 and 2015.