Wirral council house waiting list trebles

Feb 17 2009 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

WIRRAL has the highest waiting list on Merseyside for families trying to find a home, according to figures released by the Conservatives.

The data, based on Department of Communities and Local Government information, reveals more than 15,000 households are waiting to find a home, while at the same time there are 4,000 empty properties.

The figures also show that across Wirral, the number of families waiting for a home has trebled since 1997, rising from 4,949 to 15,066 families today.

Since 1997 the number of households on waiting lists across Merseyside has more than doubled from 21,320 to 48,426.

In that time Knowsley has seen a reduction from 4,636 to 2,143, but other areas have fared much worse.

Liverpool has increased from 4,321 to 12,866 and Sefton from 5,220 to 13,444. St Helens has seen an increase from 2,194 to 4,907, but Wirral tops the local list.

At the same time Knowsley has 2,422 empty properties, Liverpool has 14,459 and Sefton has 7,652. Wirral has 3,979 homes lying empty, according to the Government figures.

Leah Fraser, Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Wallasey, last night said: “We need to find out why Wirral is performing so badly at a time when some other local authorities have managed to reduce their waiting lists. Last week, I visited the Ark Project for those who are homeless. These new figures show how, as well as the homeless, there are thousands more people living in often unsuitable accommodation and desperate to move.

“The tragedy is that many of these families will know of properties in their community which are lying empty but which cannot be used due to Government regulations.”

Last night, a spokeswoman for Wirral Council said: “Although it is acknowledged that the housing waiting list has increased, it should be noted that this figure does not reflect those actively seeking housing.

“Housing allocations are made not only on a ‘needs’ basis, but also on the amount of time registered on the waiting list, of which, a lot of entries are re-newed on an annual basis.

“Wirral therefore no longer uses these figures to indicate need for housing.

“Despite the efforts of the empty property team, the marketing is moving downwards and it is becoming increasingly more difficult for families to move.

“The team will, however, continue to carry out annual reviews of the waiting list.”

liammurphy