Harlow Council continues to deliver on its mission to transform Harlow’s housing as it reports excellent performance in bringing empty council homes back into use.
The Finance, Performance and Risk Report that was viewed at Cabinet in October showed strong performance under the council’s mission to transform Harlow’s housing.
The turnaround of void properties has significantly improved, meaning void council properties are coming back into use for Harlow families quicker.
The turnaround time has been cut on average by 63% from a high of 56 days to currently 21 days. This has been achieved through a number of time-cutting factors, including an increase in the amount of long-term void properties being brought back into use and a reduction in refusals when properties are offered to families on the Housing Needs Register.
Significant improvements have also been made in reducing the overall number of voids within the system, which has reduced by 39%.
Commenting on the significant improvements, Councillor David Carter, cabinet portfolio holder for housing, said:
“I am delighted to confirm that we have continued to improve on our performance for bringing council homes back into use for Harlow families on the Housing Needs Register.
“Turnaround time remained consistent across July and August at 21 days, having been significantly higher the previous two months at a high of 45 days. Our Housing team are continuing to monitor activity on void properties to ensure that we continue to go further in reducing turnaround times and that the number of voids in the system continues to decrease.
“A big part of our mission to transform Harlow’s housing is about making sure we have more housing available for Harlow families who are eligible for council housing. These results show we are on track with this and are striving to improve further.”
