As we celebrate the positive outcomes in this years’ Empty Homes Week 2022, the team at No Use Empty would like to showcase all the great work carried out and the challenges they have overcame to bring empty properties back into use for a 17th year running.
No Use Empty (NUE) has once again passed its record for the number of projects carried out in the current financial year, the demand for interest free loans are increasing every year which is promising for Kent’s housing targets and local economy.
As the longest-running empty property initiative in the country, NUE retains the aim of reducing the number of empty dwellings that have been unoccupied and substantially unfurnished for over six months.
Delivered by Kent County Council, in partnership with all 12 district councils and, since last year, Medway Council, NUE provides a model which can be replicated offering financial assistance alongside advice and guidance.
To date, No Use Empty have now brought 7,256 empty homes back into use since 2005 through short-term secured loans and other interventions. All of No Use Empty’s projects are completed to the decent home standard ensuring the new home-owner/tenant has a good quality and safe home to live in. Not only do the loans support the smaller developers to bring properties back into use, it also pumps money into the local economy with the Kent builders buying materials from the local merchants in Kent. Jobs in the county are also created in order for the work to be carried out.
The short-term secured loans have reached almost £47m which has leveraged an additional £37.9 million from the public/private sectors giving a total investment of £84.8m to date.
The Loan Fund operates on a recyclable basis; as soon as loans are repaid the fund is replenished and can effectively be “loaned” again.
NUE has been granted a further £2.5million from the government’s Growing Places Fund to boost the cash available to bring even more empty properties back into use.
Derek Murphy, KCC’s Cabinet Member for Economic Development, said: “In these challenging times, initiatives such as No Use Empty are becoming increasingly important.
I have visited several projects with the NUE team and have been amazed by the diversity of projects being tackled.
National Empty Homes Week allows us to promote all the good work across the county. I am also delighted by the news KCC has secured a further £2.5million from the Growing Places Funds to pump into the NUE scheme to make available short-term secured loans to developers keen to help solve the housing shortage in this way.”
Steve Grimshaw, KCC Strategic Programme Manager, said: “There is real enthusiasm from those local developers who are accessing the scheme to borrow short-term finance to bring those derelict sites into use for brand new homes.
“The extra funding will further support the Kent economy as well as allowing us to regenerate local communities.”