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There are no council houses in Hyndburn and havent been for over a year.
Hyndburn Homes may well have policies different from those the council had ref allocation and occupation.
At the moment Hyndburn Homes are busy catching up with decades of neglect in repairs and improvements.This is a 5 year programme - maybe at the end of the 5 years there will be funds for new builds - who knows - more social housing is needed at affordable rents.
Harwood Red may decide to give us more info
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Your right Margaret. There have been years of neglect. Many empty properties are 'not fit to let' inside and The Council/HH now, have had little money to do them up. I can't understand why voids were not top of the priority repairs list in year 1. I'll ask Ken Bury.
New builds are unlikey because the Conservatives are opposed to Social Housing. They are currently encouraging private builders to take up the housing allocation quota for the next few years. Councillors Britcliffe and Dobson (The Chair) are directors in the board of HH as well so they influence policy both ways. Hyndburn's housing policy is shambolic and will leave residents with a big bill in the bottom drawer if our town is to look like a proud town, and not one with a lot of empty terraced houses, or BTL with a higher proportion of anti-social tenants.
The previous thread said there were 3,000 waiting on the Council House waiting list (75% of Hyndburn Homes vacancies are given to those on Council House waiting list), mostly 'hidden homeless', people shacking up at someone else's or in currently unsatisfactory accomodation. A member here asked how the Council had allowed this to happen.
There is a report from Overview & Scrutiny somewhere from 2 years ago. When I was on O&S I asked for a special enquiry into the matter. In the end it was all washed over which was disapointing because back then I wanted some action. I still do but there is no chance. If a remember Doug Heyes chaired it. It must be somewhere on the Council's website.
One story came out. A semi-d bungalow up Ossy. One of the houses had been bought under Right to Buy, the person died, and the relatives sold it to a private landlord. It was rented out quickly for £100 per week. At the same time the next door, still owned by the Council, was also rented for £55 per week.