The award winning No Use Empty (NUE) initiative, established in 2005, is the longest running empty property initiative in the UK, delivered in partnership by Kent County Council working with all 12 district councils and aims to substantially increase the numbers of long term empty homes returned to use as quality housing through a range of interventions including financial assistance to owners.
To date NUE have awarded : 455 loans supporting 1,420 units of accommodation being brought back into use. NUE have provided over £58.9m financial support levering in £43.4m from public/private sectors.
Since its inception, the total number of long term empty properties in Kent has reduced from 9,000 to 5,674.
Average renovation costs to return a unit to occupation are £43,000, average KCC investment being £23,700. For every £1 spent on administering the initiative, this translates to £20 being spent in the local economy.
£36m (61%) of funding advanced has been repaid and recycled. The initiative has also helped to create/safeguard over 1,842 jobs and provided homes to over 3,124 local people.
NUE have also delivered a £1.8m Affordable Homes Project (2012-2015) which focused on the conversion of larger commercial buildings with a regenerative impact locally. Developers were able to apply for a secured interest free loan over five years, working with a registered provider, who let the homes, provide property management and guarantee rental income. A total of 42 homes were created.
In 2020 NUE launched a new interest bearing loan product to bring forward derelict sites/land for new builds to help accelerate housing and assist our districts in delivering housing targets in their respective local plans.
NUE have twice been awarded Growing Places Funding (GPF) to deliver NUE Commercial projects with a second phase now operating across the County from 2021.
NUE have collected several awards including ‘Outstanding Contribution to Regeneration’ at the UK Housing Awards 2018 and in 2020, KCC were the only non-housing authority to be a finalist in the Council of the Year category for housing!
NUE continues to support the existing work carried out by the local councils to tackle the problems associated with empty properties, giving housing officers access to a wider group of resources, skills and experiences and engaging in a joined-up approach with Kent County Council and bordering districts to achieve improved results in returning properties back into use.