Norwich buying 24 council homes funded by devolution deal

Norwich City Council has provisionally been awarded £2m, coming from the county's controversial devolution deal, to buy the properties.

It comes at a time when there is a significant backlog of people needing a council house, with 3,400 people on the authority's waiting list. The council will have to match the funding.

Where the homes will be has not been revealed by City Hall but it has confirmed they are ones "currently under construction". 

Some of the council's current housing stock at the former King's Arms Pub in Mile Cross (Image: Norwich City Council)

At the same time, the authority is looking to convert 13 of its long-term empty properties - also called 'voids' - into homes for Afghan and Ukrainian refugees.

The properties have been left without tenants because they require "major work".

The authority has provisionally been awarded a further £1.46m from the government to cover the work.

Recent figures show the backlog for turning round voids has significantly increased to 95 days between July and September last year, up from 26 in the first months of 2021. 

In October, around 238 homes were left sitting empty in the city.  The authority owns more than 14,500 houses. 

At a meeting on Wednesday evening, Gail Harris, cabinet member for social housing, told her colleagues that the short time frame the government had set meant it was "impossible" to build from scratch.

Gail Harris (Image: Submitted)

And while she welcomed the council having 24 "much-needed" homes she said more funding was needed to help Norwich residents.

Lucy Galvin, the leader of the Green group at City Hall, questioned if taking the money was effectively an endorsement of the devolution deal.  

Alan Waters, the leader of the council, said it was a case of "24 houses or none" but insisted it would not constrain them from saying what the deal should look like.