£625,000 to give empty Shropshire properties new lease of life
Shropshire is to get £625,000 as part of £91m Government plan to refurbish and bring back into use empty and derelict homes and commercial premises.
The funding will be spent on refurbishment in areas where empty properties have commonly led to problems such as squatting, rat infestation and collapsing house prices, driving remaining residents away.
The Wrekin Housing Trust will receive £400,000 to renovate 10 properties, whilst the Shropshire Housing Alliance is to renovate 2 properties with £225,000 of funding.
Communities Minister Don Foster said: “The government is doing everything possible to tackle the problem of empty homes and urban blight. Today I’m announcing we’re going to do even more, with towns across England benefiting from £91m to refurbish over 6,000 empty properties to get them back into use. This will bring people, shops and jobs back to once abandoned areas, and provide extra affordable homes we so badly need.”
“We have already made very good progress, cutting the number of long term empty homes by 40,000 but with thousands of people in this country desperate to buy a home and areas still suffering problems of urban blight we must go further still.”
