Action plan for Carmarthenshire houses
An action plan has been launched to tackle the problem of empty houses in Carmarthenshire. Around 2,000 homes are lying empty in the county at the same time as there is a shortage of affordable housing. Many are an eyesore in their communities, cause public health related problems and are venues for antisocial behaviour. Now the county council is taking action to solve the problem and bring properties back into use for families who are desperately in need of housing. It comes as the number of empty houses is expected to rise because of repossessions caused by the credit crunch. An Empty Property Strategy was first launched in 2005 and has resulted in 150 properties being brought back into use. Now an Empty Property Action Plan has been drawn up to build on that success. The council has become the first in Wales to conduct a survey of empty property owners, in a bid to find out why homes are becoming vacant and what can be done about it. It revealed that many owners do not know what opt...