Council chases owners of thousands of empty homes in Glasgow

Since April 1 this year 195 abandoned flats or houses in the city have been returned to occupation.

The council has carried out compulsory purchase offers on 56 properties since 2019 as part of rescue plans.

The figures came to light as Labour councillor Soryia Siddique asked how many empty homes there are in the city during a committee meeting this week.

A council official said the local authority has a dedicated empty homes team and by the end of this financial year all owners with a long term deserted home of more than six months will be contacted.

A total of 671 long term empty homes have been brought back into use between April 2019 and the end of March this year, the neighbourhoods, housing and public realm city policy committee meeting heard on Tuesday.

A report said the Glasgow Empty Homes strategy has a “key priority” to “tackle the problem of empty flats and empty commercial units on the ground floor of tenement properties which are preventing common repairs from being carried out.”

Councillors heard about funding efforts to maintain and improve privately owned tenement properties that have fallen into disrepair at the meeting.

The council’s private sector housing grant programme provided £7.8million funding to repair and maintain private homes during the 2021 to 2022 financial year. Work includes fabric repairs, disabled adaptation and maintenance.

About 66 per cent – more than 208,000 Glasgow homes – are in private ownership.

The council has been working with housing associations across the city to improve privately-owned homes in areas including Calton, East Pollokshields, Ibrox/Cessnock, Govanhill and Priesthill.

Speaking at the meeting, SNP councillor Eva Bolander said it is important to safeguard tenements in the city.

The meeting heard there is a shortage of qualified consultants and contractors carrying out tenement repairs and construction costs are at an all time high.

Councillor Siddique said the skills gap must be “looked at as a matter of urgency.”

She asked if the council is considering apprenticeship programmes and working with colleges and universities to plug the gap.

A council official said the shortage of contractors has been raised with Scottish Government.

He said the skills gap needs to be addressed and mentioned in upcoming years there is to be a demand for retrofitting older properties.

SNP councillor Kenny McLean, convener for housing at Glasgow City Council, said: “The improvements to people’s homes in Glasgow brought about by the Private Sector Housing Grant Programme are a valuable part of our work to improve and maintain housing in the city. The success of the programme at number of locations confirms this value, and we can look forward to more improvements around High Street and Linthouse in the near future.”