“With the housing crisis in the Amman Valley and Carmarthenshire getting worse and private landlords making people homeless in addition to the prospect of higher interest rates in the next few months people will lose their homes. I would like to know from the Cabinet Member for Housing what action will be taken to bring the following properties back into public ownership in Garnant. They have been empty for years. In addition when are the 8 proposed new Council houses for Maesybedol going to be built?
1. 232 Cwmamman Road Garnant SA18 1LS
2. 14 Dynevor Road Garnant SA18 1NP
3. 9 Hendre Road Garnant SA18 2BL
4. 11 Hendre Road Garnant SA18 2BL”
Minutes:
“With the housing crisis in the Amman Valley and Carmarthenshire getting worse and private landlords making people homeless in addition to the prospect of higher interest rates in the next few months people will lose their homes. I would like to know from the Cabinet Member for Housing what action will be taken to bring the following properties back into public ownership in Garnant. They have been empty for years. In addition when are the 8 proposed new Council houses for Maesybedol going to be built?
1. 232 Cwmamman Road Garnant SA18 1LS
2. 14 Dynevor Road Garnant SA18 1NP
3. 9 Hendre Road Garnant SA18 2BL
4. 11 Hendre Road Garnant SA18 2BL”
Response by Councillor Linda Evans – Cabinet Member For Homes & Deputy Leader:-
First of all, I do share the concerns that Councillor Madge has raised about the housing crises which is impacting all of us across Wales. There is no doubt that the current demand is unprecedented, interest rates have increased, housing prices have increased and the new Renting Homes Act is going to be in force from the 1st December onwards. This all contributes to the fact that landlords from the Private Sector are leaving the renting housing market at the moment. As a result, it is more important than ever to make sure that we increase the supply of affordable homes as well as managing demand. Thankfully, we are in a better position today than we were back in 2015. By now, we have 1520 of additional affordable homes that people can have access to. Members will be aware that we provide a range of options to increase supply by our new build programme, buying homes on the open market and making sure that we bring empty homes back into use as soon as possible. There are 88,473 homes in Carmarthenshire and at the moment there are 1,983 homes in the private sector that have been empty for more than 6 months.
Back in April, 2015 there were 2,671 empty homes in the County. These figures are testament to the success that the officers have had by working with owners and landlords. The total amount of empty homes has slowly reduced over the last few years, during 2021/22 we managed to get 152 empty homes back into use and Carmarthenshire was the second best in Wales. In 2020/21, we managed to get 168 homes back into use.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank Gareth Williams and his team for their tireless commitment. But of course, I am the first to admit and appreciate that there is more to be done and that is why we have set up an internal Improvement Board to make sure that we do everything we can to bring empty homes back into use.
We will very shortly be introducing a new empty homes plan which will lead to targeted intervention that we know from experience so far that taking action like this will lead to positive outcomes, either via advice and support or via enforcement.
We are also considering a council tax premium on empty homes. An intervention like this will also link with our wider strategic priorities of meeting the need for homes, supporting our regeneration initiatives and responding to empty homes that are causing a nuisance or that are attracting anti-social behaviour.
I hope this shows clearly our continuous priorities to bring empty homes back into use and can I ask kindly to Members, never to disregard how complex and how much time and emotion that goes into the process of dealing with empty homes. You have to deal with every property individually and with individual owners. Finally, with local matters that have been raised and the matter talking about specific properties, Councillor Madge is one of our most experienced Councillors and is aware that naming and discussing individual properties is not something appropriate or responsible to do in the Chamber. So, I will ask kindly to Councillor Madge to go through the usual process of raising local via the Democratic Services system and as I have said if any Councillor wants any more information or an explanation, I would be willing to organise a meeting between us and the appropriate Officers.
In relation to the houses that were supposed to be built in that area, I understand from Officers that has been responded to already. Thank you.
Supplementary Question by Councillor Kevin Madge.
My question is, can we have a debate in this Council with a plan, some of the matters raised in this question that we can all debate our housing needs in every ward. Because, every ward needs to be debated and can I have assurances that in due course we can have a major debate and I thank the Cabinet Member in what she says and I understand the system and I like some of us here get frustrated in progress. Can we have a major debate and that we can raise matters in our own wards for major debate. Thank you.
Response by Councillor Linda Evans – Cabinet Member For Homes & Deputy Leader:-
I understand that empty homes impacts everybody and I would be happy if we did not have any empty homes in the County, but that is not possible of course, because empty homes are always going to come round and round and empty homes have to be empty for at least 6 months before we are able to do anything about them.
I can tell you of the 1,900 I spoke about earlier, 55% of those have been empty for less than 6 months. So the process is a long process and where there is probate involved, large families, people moving abroad who own a house in this Country it is a huge process to deal with.
In relation to a debate, of course we have a new Chair on Scrutiny and I know that these debates will happen in scrutiny for any empty homes, then if you do have anything locally please come and speak to me and I will be happy to answer.
DURATION OF MEETING
At 12:52pm the Council’s attention was drawn to Council Procedure Rule (CPR) 9 – Duration of Meeting and, as the meeting would have been underway for three hours at 1:00pm, it was therefore
RESOLVED to suspend Standing Orders to allow the remaining items on the agenda to be considered.