Concerns over £4.4m cost to Sheffield Council of empty council homes

Coun Shaffaq Mohammed was speaking at a meeting of the council’s finance sub-committee, which was looking at monthly budget figures. He highlighted the fact that the number of vacant council properties means the council forecasts it will lose £3.2m in rents for the current financial year, plus £1.2m in potential council tax revenue.

A report to the committee said that the reason was “largely related to the speed of turnaround of repairs on vacant properties”. The figures show the number of empty properties – known as voids – currently stands at 3.5% of the total, rather than the expected 1.5%.

Coun Mohammed said: “It’s not just financial losses to us, it’s a lack of housing to the people of Sheffield.”

Council finance manager Jane Wilby responded that the figure for voids is coming down but the council is still dealing with a backlog of maintenance and repairs that could not be done because of the pandemic.

She said: “There has been quite an investment. Next year that investment will pay back, we will see the lower cost of the housing repairs and maintenance budget and hopefully more income as the voids are filled.”

The council is dealing with a £14.5m gap in funding because of issues including government funding cuts, the cost-of-living crisis and increased need for services because of the pandemic. All services have delivered cuts to their budgets.

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