By Gavin Mackintosh-
More than 200 homes built with an investment of £110m in Croydon remain empty a year after they were built, despite the council having more than 5,000 on its housing waiting list.
The revelation will horrify the many homeless people in South London who are desperately waiting for a roof over their heads , yet forced to linger in uncertainty for no justifiable reason.
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In many cases, the homes have remained empty more than a year after their construction was completed, and no residents have ever occupied them.
Some of the homes have been empty for so long, they have become subject to vandalism, leading to a security firm being employed to protect the building from damage or squatters.
Brick by Brick’s Tollers Lane houses, intended for private sale, took nearly four years to build and did not go on the market until autumn 2021. After more than six months, the 10 terraced houses had failed to attract private buyers, and were bought by Croydon Council in April 2022.
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Brick by Brick is the council-owned housing company, established in 2015, that borrowed £200million, but did not repay a penny. There has been no real accountability for the unpaid debt, and some have even questioned whether the £100m quoted for the abandoned properties has not been inflated to satisfy their own agenda. It has also been blamed for the council going bankrupt in 2020.
Croydon is a beautiful city which has been long compromised by greed, incompetence, and lack of accountability for years. Its shameful council has seen many top executives come and go, many paid jackpot amounts on their way out.
Many of the fat cats who have operated at the helm of the council have in the past formed strong networks with their buddies which have paved the way for unscrupulous individuals to occupy important posts , yet deliver services to such a poor level that warrants serious penalties imposed against them.
Property crowdfunding platform Property Partner, claim that across England there are more than 200,000 long-term empty homes which have an estimated value of more than £38 billion- a shocking figure that brings shame to the entire housing system in the Uk.
In London alone, there were 20,915 homes sitting idle for more than six months in 2015 – that is almost £12.4-billion-worth of empty property, in the face of extreme housing shortage.
Prime minister Boris Johnson, who has promised to address housing in the Uk has his work cut out.
As well as Land Registry and Rightmove sources, Property Partner analysed the latest data from the Department of Communities and Local Government. In the past decade, the number of long-term vacant dwellings in England has been reducing, but clearly there are issues remaining, including the controversial overseas ownership of buy-to-let properties, bought as “investments”, but which fail to put a roof over the heads of homeless families.
In 2020, Croydon Council’s chief executive, Joe Negrini stepped down from her £220 a year post. The next year, Guy Van Dichele, Croydon’s executive director “health, well-being and adults”, and finance director Lisa Taylor, both resigned from their jobs too, highlighting the messy situation at Croydon Council.
As executive directors, both individuals were on six-figure salaries, with Van Dichele on a massive £215,444.
The Penn Report, commissioned by the then interim chief executive Katherine Kerswell to look into “possible wrong-doing” at the council was at the time highly critical of Negrini.
Not long after Kerswell received the report from Richard Penn, four of the council’s most senior staff were suspended from their jobs. Kerswell herself eventually resigned from her post, after inheriting a role presiding over a bunch where corruption, claims of race discrimination, nepotism and cronyism were rampant.
Croydon Council appears to be no nearer addressing the many woes that have long dogged the borough.
In the meantime, The Eye Of Media.Com has heard that there are over 100 flats in “Flyover Towers”, built on part of the Wandle Road car park, where contractors are slowly completing work on the 25-storey tower block, scheduled for lucrative sale.
There are suspicions that the stated £100m spent on these abandoned houses are being prime for profitable sale as the house market and house prices changes. Accommodating those on the housing waiting list could mean losing out on some of the heavy profits that could arise from selling them on the market to the highest bidders.
There is also the big possibility that big bucks were pocketed by the fat cats who loaned the heavy sums from which a fraction was used for these properties.
All along, not much has been heard from Croydon’s Mp, 50 year old Sarah Jones, who is yet to intervene in the mess of the council, whose head is under her jurisdiction.
Request for comments from Ms Jones in the past about failing Croydon Council has only ever been responded to once.
Croydon residents are growing impatient with the slow change in the borough, and the Mps reputation is falling in the area.
Croydon Council was contacted for comment. At the time of our call, a receptionist who answered the call said their press office was out of the office and not immediately accessible. They were probably enjoying the sunshine rather than attending to press enquiries which they are paid to do.
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