Empty council dwelling - insult to city's homeless
7 August 2008
Brighton and Hove Green councillor Ian Davey has today criticised Tory-run Brighton & Hove City Council for allowing a council-owned home to stand empty for 18 months, despite pledges to speed up the letting of empty properties.50 Kensington Place in St Peter's & North Laine Ward has been empty since February 2007, when the previous occupant died, but the council have so far failed to re-let this Grade 2 listed family home.
Ian (left) said: “Empty homes represent waste, financial expense and missed opportunity.
"50 Kensington Place sits as a terrible indictment of the council’s failure to make the best use of its own housing stock.
“The country is in the midst of a housing crisis, with demand far outstripping reply - but here in Brighton and Hove there are homes sitting empty.
“There is no excuse for a council-owned home being empty this long.
"The Tories promised to speed up the letting of empty properties as one of their housing priorities, but Kensington Place has been empty for almost exactly the same length of time as the Tories have been running the council.
“Housing is now one of the single biggest drivers of inequality in Britain, opening up an unprecedented social divide between the housing haves and have-nots.
"Allowing a home like this to lie empty for so long is an insult to the city’s homeless and poorly housed people.”
Notes to editors:
Media: for more information please contact Lizzie Deane Green Party External Communications Coordinator on 07931 231390.[ENDS]
