A council home in Haringey has been sitting empty for eight months whilst ten thousand families in the borough are waiting for a council home.

The property on Beatrice Road, Stroud Green, was vacated by the previous tenant in August of last year and a new tenant won’t be in the property until later this month.

Local Lib Dem councillors are questioning why it has taken the Labour run council and Homes for Haringey so long to bring the home back into use and find a new tenant.

Homes for Haringey have claimed the delay is due to the property needing extensive repair. However a neighbour has said that works to repair the property only started a month or two ago.

The council home is one of more than a thousand homes left empty and unused in Haringey.

The Lib Dem opposition have previously raised concerns about the large number of empty properties in the borough and called on the council to do more.

The Lib Dems also submitted a budget amendment last month to build a hundred council homes which Labour councillors rejected, despite the large number of people on the housing waiting list and the fact no council homes have been built in Haringey since 1989.

Katherine Reece, local Lib Dem councillor, comments:

“The Labour council and Homes for Haringey must do more to make sure that council homes are re-let quickly. It is completely unacceptable that a council property has lain empty for eight months when so many families are stuck in temporary and overcrowded accommodation waiting for a council home to become available. It is particularly worrying that according to neighbours the council didn’t even start to repair the property until recently.

“It is very sad that families with small children have to wait when these properties could be made available.”

Cllr Richard Wilson Lib Dem Housing spokesperson and local councillor adds:

“This kind of failure is typical of the Labour council’s inability to get the basics right and deliver the services residents so desperately need.

“Why should families have to wait on the housing list just because the council and Homes for Haringey can’t get their act together and repair this council home? It makes you wonder how many other families could be housed if they acted more quickly and made vacant council homes available as soon as they could.

“Labour has failed to deal with the housing crisis in Haringey and their inability to effectively manage the homes they have and their failure to build any new council homes for twenty-four years shows they can’t be trusted with the leadership of this borough.”