Birmingham council to sell off athletes’ village homes at more than £300m loss
Birmingham council to sell off athletes’ village homes at more than £300m loss
Sale of hundreds of empty homes designed, but not used, for Commonwealth Games attacked as ‘absolute scandal’
The new-build Perry Barr estate, described by local people as a ghost town, with many flats standing empty for more than a year, was intended to be an athletes’ village for the Commonwealth Games, which Birmingham hosted in 2022.
Due to delays caused by Covid, the development was not completed in time for the event so athletes were housed in student accommodation. The council said the Perry Barr apartments would become homes for local people instead.
But the properties have sat empty for months, with the council unable to sell them due to a lack of “market appetite” for one- and two-bedroom apartments in the area, and issues with mortgage providers valuing the properties at less than they were being sold for.
A report presented to the council’s cabinet last week said selling off 755 properties to a private bidder, who has yet to be named, would result in a “significant loss to the public purse” but was the best outcome.
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The council has spent £325m on the development, of which £292m was borrowed. After selling off the homes, it is expected that £142m-£152m of debt will remain unpaid, costing £8m-£9m a year over a 40-year period to repay, taking the projected total loss in the region of £320m.
You couldn't possibly use them as public housing or even just rent them out to anyone? There's got to be some demand?
Article says 23,000 people are on a wait list for social housing in Birmingham, but the council is bankrupt because of the equal pay claim they had to settle so even when a solution like this falls in their lap, they can’t afford to take it.
Looks like someone with lots of money is going to get a lot of housing for less than £200k per apartment (around a 30% discount). Usually you have to be a bank during a recession for a bargain like that!
I’m really enjoying late stage capitalism, it’s like playing a post-apocalyptic video game, without the nuisance of having to learn the controls.