THE NUMBER of empty homes in Rhondda Cynon Taf fell by more than 250 last year, council figures show.
An update on the council’s empty homes strategy went before cabinet on Monday, October 23 and showed that the number of empty homes in the county borough had reduced by 258 in the first year of the strategy (2022/2023) from 2,892 to 2,634.
Council tax records also show that in April 2017 there were 3,556 private sector homes that had been empty for six months or more so since then the number of empty homes has reduced by 922 properties.
In the last year, the council said there were 646 interventions delivered, which is above the provisional target of 400 per year.
The 3,556 empty private sector homes in April 2017 made up 3.8% of Rhondda Cynon Taf’s private housing stock with the average for Wales in 2017/2018 being 2.4% and the lowest Torfaen having 0.78% of their stock empty.
The cabinet report said that whilst RCT was above the Welsh average and did have the highest number of empty homes in Wales, this was primarily due to the level of “churn” in the housing market, rather than persistent long term empty homes.
In 2018, the council’s cabinet approved an empty homes strategy which aimed to make a difference to both the scale of empty homes that are brought back into use and to have a more fundamental impact on the total number to try to reverse the trend in a more sustainable way.
Between 2018 and 2021, there were 1,267 council interventions, which directly brought 692 properties back into use.
Council tax records also showed that over this time the number of empty homes across the borough had reduced by 21% or 662 properties (from 3,556 to 2,894).
But the council says that whilst it was acknowledged that positive outcomes had been achieved, the problem persisted and continued to present problems in many communities so a new RCT Empty Homes Strategy was drawn up and approved by cabinet in October 2022.
This included five key aims which were:
- To develop partnerships and vehicles that will enable an increase in the scale of empty homes being brought back into use.
- To maximise the use of current funding and identify further funding models to increase the number of empty homes that are brought back into use.
- To use a range of interventions to ensure all types of empty homes are targeted and enabled to be brought back into use and monitor the outcomes related to these closely.
- To undertake further research in communities and evaluation of existing schemes to understand why there are a high number of empty homes.
- To identify possible solutions that could prevent homes from becoming empty and also develop interventions for different market
areas and types.
Councillor Mark Norris, cabinet member for development and prosperity said: “It’s good to see the strategy goes from strength to strength.
“The programme has been really successful in getting homes back on to the market or into meaningful use by families.”
He said it’s great they have just under 700 properties brought back into use so far and, rather than laying empty and causing problems in communities, they’re in use.
Councillor Bob Harris, cabinet member for public health and communities, said it was very refreshing to hear these positive figures moving very much in the right direction.
