A NEW scheme to turn empty and run-down houses back into good-quality housing was launched in Risca yesterday.

Welsh Housing Minister Huw Lewis launched the £5 million Houses to Homes Recyclable Loans Fund at an empty property in Navigation Road.

The fund will allow Welsh councils to offer interest-free loans to landlords and home owners so they can renovate run-down properties which can then be put back on the market for sale or rent.

Latest figures show there are 21,970 privately rented properties that are empty in Wales.

The Houses to Homes scheme will offer landlords and home owners loans of up to £25,000 per property, and a maximum of £150,000 per applicant.

Landlords will have to repay the loan by a fixed period, and the money will then be recycled for other loans to bring more properties back into use.

The property that Housing Minister Mr Lewis visited in Navigation Road yesterday has been empty for the last 12 years, and is currently being renovated through a Caerphilly council empty homes scheme.

Mr Lewis said: “Empty homes are a wasted resource, especially at a time when demand for housing outweighs supply.

“Left unoccupied for long periods of time empty properties can blight our neighbourhoods as they become run-down or attract vandalism and anti-social behaviour.”

He said the project would also support jobs in the home maintenance and construction industries.

The Houses to Homes Recyclable Loans Fund opens in April, when landlords and owners will be able to apply for loans through their local authority.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: Homes project a win-win affair

THE Assembly scheme to bring rundown and empty homes back into use as good-quality housing seems to us to be a good idea.

Nothing blights a street more than the presence of dilapidated properties.

They not only look awful but they also become a magnet for vandals.

The result is a cycle of decline, which can spread to blight a whole area.

So to bring such properties back into use by offering loans to landlords and home owners seems to make perfect sense.

In this way the run-down properties can then be put back on the market for sale or rent.

For the landlord or property owner, the beauty of the scheme is in the fact that the loans will be interest free, making them affordable.

For the local authorities the benefit will be seeing empty properties being brought back into use.

And for the Assembly for a fairly small initial investment of just £5 million, the rolling nature of the scheme will lead to a much larger benefit.

And given that home maintenance and construction workers will also get the chance to compete for any work being done, the scheme could also benefit the wider economy.

Good news all round.