Southwark Council has defended its decision to ease the sale of dilapidated council homes in its wealthiest areas.
The News revealed earlier this month that the council had approved a rule change making it easier to flog posh flats that fall into disrepair.
Previously, council officers could only approve the sale of council assets worth less than £750,000 with the cabinet’s approval. But now only sales over £3 million require the cabinet’s thumbs up.
Charmain Graves, Chair of resident organisation Bankside Village, said the council should avoid selling its voids.
Voids are council homes that are left unoccupied for an extended period – often due to disrepair.
Speaking at Council Assembly (March 20), she suggested the council invest more in voids to “alleviate the hardship” of people on the housing waiting list.
Cllr Stephanie Cryan, Cabinet Member for Finance responded by saying the voids being sold were too expensive to refit.
She added that sale proceeds would be invested in the existing housing stock and “steady” the council’s housing fund.
Graves also said the Labour-run council should wait for a change in government which could mean local authorities have more money to renovate voids.
But Cllr Cryan admitted a Labour victory wouldn’t necessarily mean improved local funding deals for local authorities.
She said it could be “some time” before councils get “more favourable settlements” because of a decade of Conservative financial policy around local authority funding.
Cllr Cryan did not specify any particular policy but she has previously criticised the 2012 Welfare Reform Act.
This meant councils had to reduce rent levels by one per cent each year from 2016, which Cllr Cryan has previously said “dismantled” councils’ financial models.
Your journalist describes a “void” house or flat as one that is in disrepair. This is not correct. It means a house or flat that is empty between occupants. It may be in disrepair, but that is not the meaning of the word. Voids in a good condition would be relet swiftly.