Successful places with homes and jobs A NATIONAL AGENCY WORKING LOCALLY Empty Properties programme LGA Pacian Andrews – Senior Manager, Affordable Housing Team 29 April 2013

Contents  Current delivery context  HCA Role  Delivering for local communities  Empty Property funding

Current delivery context  Continued limits on public funding  Focus on growth  Localism  Risk – diversification and complex environment  One year spending review  HCA activity focused on five key areas: –Affordable housing –Market interventions –Public land –Economic Assets Programme –Regulation

The HCA role  Working with people and places to help them to deliver homes, economic growth and jobs  Delivering programmes of investment and market interventions  Making best use of public land and developing economic assets  Undertaking robust economic regulation of social housing providers We help drive local economic growth by supporting communities to realise their aspirations for prosperity, creating successful places with homes and jobs.

2012/13 Delivery  Another strong year of delivery  HCA has again met or exceeded all core targets: –114 ha of previously developed land back into productive use –323,000 sqm of new employment floor space created –£944m of private sector investment attracted –Will report a strong performance on housing starts and completions  Support of partners was key  New programmes & initiatives are foundation for strong delivery in 13/14

Budget 2013  Significant new investment channelled through the HCA –£3.5bn Help to Buy –An additional £800m for Build to Rent –A doubling of the £225m Affordable Homes Guarantee Programme  Builds on HCA expertise, success of our existing programmes and effective regulation  HCA moving quickly Speed of delivery is vital to maximise the impact of this investment on the economy.

What is the case for intervention and why empty commercial? Coalition commitment to explore a range of interventions to bring empty properties back into use to;  Address insufficient housing supply  Make better more effective use of existing stock  Tackle the blight of Empty Town centres and tap into an under utilised resource  Benefits for local areas

Empty Property funding  £75m to bring back empty properties as residential Affordable Rent and shared ownership – bid round now closed.  A focus on non-residential/commercial properties, but bids for empty residential properties also welcome (not existing social housing)  Mixed use schemes are eligible, but funding only available for the affordable housing element  Funding not intended to tackle wide- spread abandonment, there must be evidence of demand for housing that will be created We help drive local economic growth by supporting communities to realise their aspirations for prosperity, creating successful places with homes and jobs.

Similarities with the last round  Landlords of completed properties must be Registered Providers  Properties can be brought in as either Lease & Repair or Purchase & Repair  Completed properties must be Affordable Rent or shared ownership  No pre-set area split of the funding (outside of London)  Separate bidding route for community- led groups not wishing to become RPs  Bidding guidance has full details /sites/default/files/our- work/bringing_empty_properties_full_20 13.pdf /sites/default/files/our- work/bringing_empty_properties_full_20 13.pdf

Progress on the existing funding  A slow start to delivery as the programme got underway, but on track to deliver this year’s target and full programme within  Contracting phase of the first round nearly complete – all but one of the providers have been issued with a contract, dealing with final issues on particular contracts  Flexibility of delivery models has meant bespoke contracts  Will learn lessons from this round in order to ensure smoother process for next round  Assessment of current round on-going with announcements expected early summer We are a key delivery partner in Government’s ambition to make the best use of public assets to benefit communities

LAs active in the current programme  Association of Greater Manchester Authorities –Leading a consortium of 9 Local Authorities and their RP partners in the NW –Ambitious programme of 461 completions over the period –Main focus on residential properties, with an even split between purchase and repair and lease and repair (typical lease length 5-10 years)

LAs active in the current programme  South Tyneside –Small programme acting alone –Intending to deliver 27 Affordable Rent homes across 3 year programme period –Using final form of EDMO to act as secure legal interest in property

LAs active in the current programme  East Riding of Yorkshire District Council –Small scale programme 10 properties over 3 year period concentrated in rural areas. –Initially intended to bring properties in on a lease and repair basis, but decided once market tested to covert to purchase and repair

Keeping in touch   // /HCA_UK  /homes-&-communities-agency 