MP Karen Buck's anger at empty houses ‘left to rot’ - CityWest Homes' Warlock Road properties boarded up, despite chronic housing shortage
Published: 08 October 2010
by JOSH LOEB
DILAPIDATED council houses may be about to be sold to developers at the very time the borough faces one of the severest housing shortages in the country, an MP has warned.
Karen Buck, Labour MP for Westminster North, said dozens of homes in her constituency were being “left to rot” while thousands of people remained in temporary accommodation.
She was highlighting the case of two four-bedroom properties in Warlock Road, Queen’s Park, that are currently boarded up and uninhabited but which, if repaired, could provide a home for one of the many families on Westminster’s long housing waiting list.
Ms Buck accused CityWest Homes – the arms-length management organisation responsible for maintaining City Hall’s housing stock – of ignoring countless warnings about the state of its buildings.
She said: “Unfortunately this seems to be becoming a disturbing pattern. Obviously these properties are extremely dear to repair but the question is why did they just leave these properties to rot for years? My fear is that, with the new government, properties that may have been eventually brought back into use will now be considered too expensive to repair and will be dispensed of. Huge amounts of money is being spent in housing benefit to families in temporary accommodation while buildings like this are left to rot.”
Earlier this year a West End Extra report revealed that entire blocks in Westminster were standing empty.
Inigo Patten, a homeowner in Hormead Road, Queen’s Park, said council-owned houses in his street had been left to deteriorate “for 25 years” and that some had been abandoned or were being squatted.
He said some of the buildings may now be hazardous, claiming slats had fallen into his garden from the roof of the council-owned house next door.
He said: “Our neighbouring house has a roof which leaks on the tenants and has shed tiles into our garden over four stories. We have children and one of them could have been injured. I have spent years trying to get CityWest to do something about this particular house with no result.”
He added that one of the buildings that was sitting empty had been damaged by squatters who moved in because of an apparent failure by CityWest adequately to secure the building.
Mr Patten said: “Despite the housing crisis, this house sits empty. A similar sized property sold in this street for £1.3 million, so this is an amazing waste of valuable public assets. CityWest’s houses are strikingly neglected and have a slum-like quality.
“Clearly this is failing their tenants, but it also contributes to a sense of poverty and depression in an area Westminster Council claim they are keen to improve.”
CityWest Homes’ chief executive Mark Hoyland said: “When flats become empty some may be suitable for conversion to create homes to help overcrowded families. It is our understanding that these will not be sold but are in fact part of a scheme to provide more affordable housing in the city. Unfortunately these properties suffer from serious structural and subsidence problems and we recognise that it has taken a long time to deal with these issues.
“However, the work to convert the property on Hormead Road is starting in November, and Warlock Road will be rebuilt subject to the necessary approvals.
“CityWest Homes continues to help tackle overcrowding and in the last two years we have converted almost 30 properties into affordable homes.”