25 November 2005
More than a third of homes built for key workers in London and Southeast England are standing empty, according to government figures.
A total of 2,272 homes have been built in the two regions since the £725m Key Worker Living scheme was launched in March 2004. To date, just 1,470 have been sold for shared ownership or let for intermediate renting.
This leaves 236 empty properties in London (equivalent to 36% of those constructed) and 566 in the Southeast (35%). In contrast, 83% of the homes built in the East of England have been either sold or let.
The figures were revealed by housing minister Yvette Cooper following a parliamentary question tabled by MP Sarah Teather, who shadows the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for the Liberal Democrats.
Cooper pointed out that 47% of the empty homes had been completed only in the past three months.
But Teather claimed Labour was ploughing money into a scheme that is not working. 'It's a phenomenal waste of money to build homes that just lie empty,' she said.
An ODPM spokesman said the number of homes available to buy or let fluctuated from month to month and, since Yvette Cooper gave her parliamentary answer, the number of empty properties had fallen to 30% in London and 24% in the Southeast.
New homes make up a third of the Key Worker Living scheme, with the majority of people preferring to take out equity loans for existing properties, added the spokesman. Nearly 8,000 workers had received some form of assistance up to the end of October.
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