One thousand empty homes in South Lakes should be released for local families - Farron

Local MP Tim Farron has today asked parliament to support a motion that would allow South Lakeland District Council to bring 1,000 local empty homes into use as affordable homes for families in need.

Currently - according to Shelter - there are 3,325 households in the South Lakes in housing need. At the same time, South Lakeland District Council's official estimate is that there are one thousand properties lying empty. While there are rules allowing councils to requisition empty properties, councils do not have the funds needed to take on more than a handful of them.

Tim motion to parliament would allow councils to raise capital against the value of their housing stock to help bring empty homes into use. This radical plan could see a third of local homeless families housed without having to build a single extra property.

Tim said, "It is a scandal that there are a thousand empty homes locally while families struggle in housing need. We need to give the council the power to bring these houses in to use to provide secure and affordable homes for local families in the South Lakes."