Empty homes funding focuses on Anfield
Liverpool City Council has laid out plans for how it will spend more than £14m in government funding to bring empty properties across the city back into use.
A report will be presented to the council's cabinet on Friday 25 January, detailing how the government's Clusters of Empty Homes Fund money will be used to regenerate 306 homes.
A number of areas have been highlighted as priorities, with the investment broken down as follows:
- Anfield Village: £10m, 156 empty homes brought back into use
- Tuebrook and Stoneycroft: £979,310, 45 empty homes brought back into use
- South Liverpool: £1.04m, 73 empty homes brought back into use
- Kelvin Grove/Welsh Streets: £2m, 32 empty homes brought back into use
Cllr Ann O'Byrne, Liverpool City Council's cabinet member for housing and community safety, said: "These plans will accelerate housing renewal in the city providing modern, affordable homes which people want to live in. They will help revitalise our neighbourhoods and support our plans to bring 1,000 vacant homes back into use over the next three years.
"Housing plans for Anfield Village, the Welsh Streets and other areas of the city are progressing well and the allocation of this funding means we can continue to drive forward with the plans, delivering long overdue housing improvements in the areas which need it most.
"We are consulting with residents at every step of the way and we will continue to work closely with them as these plans become reality."
Work is now underway on the £36m 'Anfield Village' and Rockfield housing schemes. The work includes the refurbishment of 562 properties previously earmarked for demolition, 156 of which are vacant. Around £10m from the Clusters of Empty Homes Fund has been allocated to the scheme, with the remainder coming from the city council and registered providers owning properties in the area, predominantly Your Housing Group.
Liverpool City Council is also moving forward with plans to bring 45 empty properties back into use in Tuebrook and Stoneycroft. Liverpool Mutual Homes will purchase and refurbish the vacant properties and offer them for affordable rent. Just over £979,000 has been allocated to this scheme.
In South Liverpool, the city council will work with Plus Dane to refurbish 105 houses to create a combined mix of affordable and market rent properties. As part of this, 37 terraced houses in the Welsh Streets, which had previously been earmarked for demolition, will be retained and refurbished. A total of £3m has been allocated to South Liverpool.
The remainder of the funding will be used for housing regeneration schemes in other parts of the city region, with over £2.5m allocated for projects in Sefton, Wirral and Knowsley.
The money was allocated following negotiations between the region's Restore Consortium and Clusters of Empty Homes Funding.
