New initiatives to occupy vacant homes in the Lancaster and Morecambe district

Lancaster City Council are looking to combat the empty home crisis in the Lancashire area.

This includes a combination of working with property owners, enforcement actions over issues of poor maintenance, and increasing council tax based on how long a property has been empty.

The plan has been created because it is estimated that more than 800 homes across the Lancaster and Morecambe area are long-term vacant.

The Lancaster district has a slightly higher rate of long-term empty houses than the national average. Lancashire-14 area’s average of long-term vacancies is 3.4 per cent of properties. Vacant properties have expanded the most in the Lancaster district, increasing by 14.7 per cent from 2022 to 2023.

The council believes that the action will improve community well-being, safety, and boost local pride.

The new Empty Homes Strategy, was adopted last week. It is aiming to get 60 properties back into use every year. The strategy will have a specific concentration on the West End area of Morecambe.

The strategy states: “examples show how properties that had been empty for years, often due to owner inaction or financial issues, were brought back into use through council support or enforcement.”

This strategy is expected to be the most effective initiative because of the increase of council tax on properties left vacant for longer than a year. The maximum premium is expected to go up to 400 per cent for properties with decade long vacancies.

This strategy turns away from building initiatives by big developers to combat the housing crisis. It instead looks to utilise the existing structures of the city.