Housing chief Councillor Sagal Abdi-Wali

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HUNDREDS of council homes are lying empty as thousands of people remain on the waiting list for somewhere to live.

Town Hall statistics showed this week there are at least 415 “void” properties in the process of being relet – including 127 in the north-west of the borough alone.

A further 166 homes that are considered too expensive to upgrade are set to be sold off. Camden – which is restructuring its voids team – said 73 of these non reletable homes have been earmarked for sale on the private market, and the cash will be used for “buy-backs” of council homes lost under Right to Buy legislation.

Paul Tomlinson, a former Labour councillor and district management committee (DMC) representative, said: “We have raised the issue many times in past years. It is simply shameful that Camden has not been able to significantly reduce the number of voids thereby providing homes for those on the waiting list and bringing more rental income for Camden.”

He added: “It remains to be seen whether the re-organisation of the voids team will make the turn-around of voids more efficient.”

Former councillor Paul Tomlinson, centre, during hus time on the council

John Wood, another DMC rep, added: “There are hundreds of void properties and that amounts to a hell of a lot of money in rents that they are not bringing in each year.

“There shouldn’t be so many, but where is the money to repair them? I don’t know. The number is high, but the main thing is it’s not going down.”

A council report circulated last week said two new contractors had been appointed “to work specifically in the Hampstead area as well as an additional supervisor for three months in that team”.

The figures also show larger homes are among the “voids” with 59 three-bed homes and 16 with four bedrooms, at a time when the pressure on family-sized homes is said to be at an all-time high.

A special meeting of Camden’s DMCs to discuss the problem – and also delays to lift repairs across the borough’s estates – was held in the Crowndale Centre last Tuesday.

It was chaired by the council’s new housing chief Labour councillor Sagal Abdi-Wali, but the New Journal was told firmly told it could not attend the meeting. In unusual circumstances, Camden said a filmed recording of it would be made public.

The DMCs are concerned that the council’s huge mounting debt is preventing the reletting of its property portfolio.

Last year, Camden’s then housing chief Meric Apak warned the council was facing a housing funding gap of around £200million.

The council said it was introducing a new system where viewings “are now taking place as soon as it is safe to do so”.

Previously, prospective tenants were made to wait until works were fully complete.

Meanwhile, tenants were told part of the issue with broken lifts is that there are dozens installed in newbuild blocks, which, a council report said, were under contracts with “multinational lift companies” based outside of the UK.

This means all spare parts needed to fix 66 lifts in Camden residential buildings have to be ordered “from Europe or further abroad”.

The report added that Brexit has caused delays in getting these spare parts – with the council at times having “to wait as long as a month for replacement parts to arrive”.

Cllr Abdi-Wali said: “This summer we made many operational changes to complete works and lettings more quickly. Many homes require significant repairs which we are in the process of completing.”

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