Me and my ward colleague Cllr Glenn Goodall with Katesgrove Lib Dem councillors Gareth Epps and Warren Swaine and a group of local residents campaigning to bring this private property on Christchurch Road (which has been empty for several years) back into use.
A few weeks ago I wrote to Ian Austin MP, new Minister responsible for empty homes to find out what progress had been made on this issue nationally since the seminar I attended in April along with other empty homes campaigners.
After I sent the letter I received a message from my friend and campaigner David Ireland, Chief Executive of the Empty Homes Agency:
"Thank you for copying me in to your excellent letter to Ian Austin, coincidently I had just written a similar letter to John Healey [housing minister]. One of my board members collared him last night too, but he (Healy) was dragged off for a briefing from Richard McCarthy on empty homes before he said anything.
Lets see if either of them respond. The government have hung their whole response to empty homes on that seminar and the foreword Margaret Becket did for our guidance, so I'm not letting them just drop it as a one-off."
Needless to say I haven't heard anything back from the Minister yet: I'll be on his case soon if I don't hear anything. It took CLG three months to send me the minutes of the meeting held in April so I won't be holding my breath.
I sincerely hope that the government has not lost interest in doing something about empty homes, so soon after then Housing Minister, Margaret Beckett backed calls for action earlier this year.
I was very sad to read earlier this week in Inside Housing that financial support for the excellent Empty Homes Agency, a charity, has also been cut.
This the worst possible time for the Labour government to be neglecting to do everything it can to help actively encourage local authorities to reduce the number of empty private rented homes in their area.
Particularly when we know that demand for low-cost, affordable housing has never been higher in our area.
We heard last week at the HHCC Scrutiny Panel meeting the number of empty homes in Reading has risen almost 10% since February while at the same time the number of people contacting the council to apply for a council housing has more than doubled.
The facts as they stand are stark:
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As of May 1 2009 there were 489 private sector homes in Reading that had been empty longer than 6 months
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There are currently around 4,000 people registered on the council's housing waiting list
My Lib Dem colleagues and I will continue to campaign for action to reduce the number of empty homes in Reading and to improve access to affordable housing.
It's good to know also, that although nationally Labour may be letting us down on this issue, Lib Dem housing spokesperson, Sarah Teather MP, has said publicly that getting action on empty homes is one of her top three priorities.
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