Why Does North Yorkshire Have So Many Empty Homes?

Tuesday, 5 September 2023 06:00

By Matthew Pells with additional reporting from Stuart Minting, Local Democracy reporter

The county has 6,500 people waiting for social housing at the same time as it has 3,000 empty houses.

North Yorkshire Council says there are over three thousand long term empty properties across the whole county and over six and half thousand people on the waiting list for social housing. Seven hundred of those empty properties are in the former Scarborough Borough.

Executive Member for Housing, Councillor Simon Myers, says the council is working on the issue and has announced a probe into why the number of vacant properties is continuing to rise.

The figures from North Yorkshire Council show there are over seven hundred long term empty properties in Scarborough and Whitby. A figure that is increasing.

Executive member for housing - Councillor Simon Myers says they are a number of reasons why homes are left empty.

It is almost a year since North Yorkshire Council adopted a policy to implement a 100 per cent council tax premium for empty premises that have been left unoccupied and substantially unfurnished for a year or more, from April next year.

An officer’s report to a meeting of the council’s leading members highlighted how at the end of June there were nearly 900 empty homes in the Harrogate borough area and more than 700 in Scarborough borough, while there were 500-plus empty homes in the Craven and Hambleton areas.

Both Richmondshire and Ryedale had nearly 400 empty homes and there were more than 200 in the Selby area.

The report added demand for affordable housing was set to rise as residents struggle with mortgage payments and rental costs, and fuelled by a forecast downturn in housebuilding completions, changes to planning policy, rising material costs and wider economic pressures linked to the cost of living.

The report stated: “Maintaining a robust affordable homes programme is essential to meet this future demand.”

After being pressed on how the council intended to bring empty homes back into use, Coun Myers told the meeting that the authority was having to develop a county-wide strategy as some boroughs and districts had tackled the issue, going as far as compulsory purchases, some did not have a strategy and only Scarborough and Harrogate had designated empty homes officers.

Pledging to “get to the bottom of it and work out a strategy about what can be done”, Coun Myers added: " we’ve got our eyes on it.”

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