• YOUR report (Borough’s 500 empty properties ‘tip of scandalous housing iceberg’, February 3) states that: “More than 500 council-owned ‘ghost’ homes across the borough are lying empty due to major repair bills or legal disputes…”.

This is incorrect. The council does not have 500 homes lying empty due to major repair bills or legal disputes.

These homes are all undergoing works or in the lettings process, which is a tiny proportion of our 23,000 homes in Camden, and not out of step nationally.

These are actively being prepared for new tenancies, some of which will have been let already and all others in the process to be let to families and individuals in need of suitable housing as soon as possible.

In addition to our day-to-day work, we have a dedicated project to make sure all homes are let as soon as possible, with a particular focus on speeding up the viewings and allocations process. For example, we now have virtual viewings which are quicker and Covid-safe.

To further address these issues, our “void improvement programme” has been set up to focus on the management of empty properties and has seen significant improvements in the last 12 months.

We have reduced the number of empty properties being prepared for immediate new tenancies by 17 per cent, as well as almost halving the average number of days a home remains empty; meaning that more properties are in use for our residents in need of housing.

CLLR MERIC APAK
Cabinet Member for
Better Homes