Salix Homes supports Empty Homes Week

This week is Empty Homes Week and Salix Homes is supporting the initiative by helping to bring more empty buildings back into use as affordable housing.

Empty Homes Week 2019 takes place from 23 – 29 September and aims to raise awareness of the work organisations are doing across the UK to tackle the issue of empty homes.

In Salford, Salix Homes and our private sector leasing arm Salix Living, have created around 200 affordable homes by bringing empty houses and commercial buildings back into use.

From derelict shops, long-term empty homes, and even an old pub, Salix Living works with private landlords to access grants to refurbish dilapidated buildings transforming them into much-needed affordable housing.

The scheme has been so successful in Salford, that Salix Living is now working with Trafford Council to roll out the initiative over the border.

The first project to come to fruition is a long-term empty property in Urmston, which has recently been converted into four flats for vulnerable women who are victims of domestic violence and homelessness.

Jonathan Drake, service director at Salix Living, said: “Salix Living exists to provide an alternative in the private sector, driving up standards and providing a roof over the head of those that need it most.

“In Salford, we’ve had great success working with private landlords to bring empty homes and buildings back into use as much needed-housing, so we’re very proud to see that model now being rolled out in Trafford.

“By working closely with our partners in Trafford, we’ve seen a once empty building transformed to provide temporary accommodation to some of our most vulnerable members of society, and we hope this is the first of many similar projects in the area.”

The Urmston property is managed by Salix Living working in partnership with Trafford Council’s Housing Options Service Trafford (HOST), which is also managed by Salix Homes. HOST identify and refer residents for the accommodation and provide the support needed to help them get their lives back on track.

Rob Miller, service manager at HOST, said: “Everyone deserves a place to call home, but with more than 4,500 people on the housing waiting list in Trafford alone, the housing crisis and shortage of accommodation is growing, so projects like this provide a really positive solution by unlocking the private rented sector to those in desperate need.

“Thanks to our partnership with Salix Living and projects such as this to bring empty homes back into use, we now have access to more safe, good quality, temporary accommodation for our vulnerable clients while we support them to get their lives back on track.”

Cllr James Wright, Trafford Council’s Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration, added: “Homelessness is a major issue in the UK today so it is shocking to see homes around the UK empty. The renovation of the Urmston property is a fantastic example of what can be done. It has brought the property back to life and made rooms available to people on the Council’s housing waiting list.”

Back in Salford, Salix Homes has recently converted a former women’s hostel in Walkden, which had stood empty for five years, into social housing.

Joan Lestor House has been refurbished into nine modern apartments for social rent, with the first residents moving in over the coming weeks.