South Holland District Council will be looking at its housing stock after seeing in a rise in number of 'void' days due to difficulties in finding tenants for Spalding sheltered housing complex
Difficulties in letting studio apartments in a retirement complex coupled with a desperate need for similar homes for young people has prompted a review.
South Holland District Council say the average number of ‘void’ or empty days is 30 but reported 2,375 between July, August and September this year due to difficulties in finding tenants for places like Nene Court in Spalding.
The council has also seen a dramatic increase in the number of people claiming universal credit. This has rocketed up to 7,165 in the second quarter compared with 2,740 with the previous year. The number of furloughed employees in the district was 10,400
Despite Nene Court apartments being decorated and carpteted before being re-let, the council struggles to find older tenants, who prefer the one bedroom bungalows, while there are younger people who need this type of property.
Members of the Performance Monitoring Panel were told on Tuesday that officers are looking at the council’s housing stock to make sure it has the right offering.
Chairman Bryan Alcock said: “It is ironic that at the other end of the age scale we can’t get enough of this type of property.”
A report to the meeting states that without Nene Court, the average number of ‘key-to-key’ days would be 24.
Members were also told that more tenants had given up their council homes during the pandemic than in the previous year. A total of 79 homes were ‘void’ between July, September and August this year compared with 61 for a similar period in 2019.
Members were told that care seemed to be one of the main reasons why people were leaving. This could be to move nearer to family after losing support networks during lockdown or going into care homes.
The council had also seen an increase in flytipping this year, with 273 reported for the second quarter, while 163 were recorded for a similar period for last year.
August was the worst month for fly tipping with 123 incidents being recorded. There were 87 in July and 63 in September.
On average it takes four days to clear a fly tip but the longest clearance was 23 days as a contractor was needed to remove rubbish from a waterway. Coun Nigel Pepper said: “It is a terrible scourge on the countryside and there has been a dramatic up surge.”
The meeting also heard that prior to the first lockdown, Parkwood, which runs the district’s leisure centres, had recorded its highest participation in February.
