A charity has brought more than 70 empty homes back in to use in their bid to end homelessness in Leicester.
Action Homeless have transformed lives by renovating 72 units across 23 properties, well on their way to their target of refurbishing 100 accommodation spaces across the city by the end of 2018.
After identifying a lack of affordable housing in the city, the charity teamed up with partners to track down the owners of empty properties and worked with them to renovate the units to a high standard.
Our pledge is that our accommodation spaces remain affordable to tenants, so our rents are set in line with local housing allowance rates
To carry out the work, Action Homeless’ sister social enterprise Action Trust enabled tenants, many who were previously homeless, to carry out maintenance work, giving them a job to help get their life on the right track.
Once up to scratch, the property is rented out at an affordable rate while tenants are offered support with either personal or financial problems.
Bringing empty homes back into use has been a key focus for The Big Issue since we launched our Fill ‘Em Up campaign in 2015.