‘Refurbish our empty homes’ to kick-start economy

A new report by the Centre for Cities said that while many cities in the south of England do need vast swathes of new houses to be built quickly, many Northern cities still have very high vacancy rates of their existing stock and would be better off focusing on refurbishing and retro-fitting crumbling Victorian homes.

The Government has repeatedly stated its desire to “get Britain building” in order to kick-start the economy, with Ministers fond of quoting statistics showing the country is desperately short of homes for its young people.

But the new report suggests some cities in the North – including Leeds, Hull and Bradford – may actually see a negative impact from a massive house-building drive, and that sprucing up existing empty homes could be more beneficial overall.

The think-tank stated: “In places where housing is relatively more affordable to buy or rent, focusing primarily on increasing the supply of housing is unlikely to help that city economy. Instead, it could put further downward pressure on house prices, hurting current homeowners.

“Policies to deal with issues of vacant housing and poor quality housing stock are likely to be more beneficial for these cities, as they can improve the quality of life of local residents, help make areas more attractive to businesses and potentially generate jobs in the form of refurbishment.

“Ultimately, housing is not likely to be the biggest economic issue that these cities face.”

Speaking at a launch event yesterday, Centre for Cities’ deputy chief executive Andrew Carter said it was clear that “different cities have different housing needs”.

He said: “For some, the most pressing issue is new housing. But for (cities with high) vacancy rates of their housing stock, the pressing issues are about improving the quality of their housing.”

Housing Minister Mark Prisk said he accepted that different parts of the country require tailored approaches, but made clear that overall, house-building levels must rise to meet the current shortage.

“We inherited a dysfunctional housing market,” he said. “We’ve been building as a country something like half the number of homes we actually need, year in, year out, for 15 to 20 years.”

Speaking to the Yorkshire Post, Mr Prisk said it was down to individual councils to decide their own housing priorities.

“I’m a great believer in city regions and their authorities deciding what their priorities are, and us giving them the tools to do it,” he said. “I’m not going to say some blanket national policy that Sheffield or Bradford should be doing ‘a’ or ‘b’.

“They need to choose. We need to move away from this culture that somehow the Minister in Whitehall is omniscient and omnipresent at the same time.”

But Centre for Cities chief executive Alexandra Jones said Government schemes such as the New Homes Bonus, which offers financial rewards to councils which oversee house-building within their local areas, are pushing authorities in one clear direction.

“An awful lot of the incentives are directed towards new homes rather than the other (options),” Ms Jones said.