EMPTY properties are being brought back to life in a project to provide homes for refugees and immigrants who have been given leave to stay in the UK.

Three empty properties in Stockton are being leased by housing group Thirteen to a community interest company to help provide accommodation for people from black and minority ethnic, refugee and immigrant communities to help them start out and be included in the community.

Cultures CIC will now work with Thirteen to refurbish the empty properties, ready for occupation.

The company will receive rental income from the homes to support its valuable work, and formerly empty properties will be brought back into use, breathing new life into the local area.

Sade Sangowawa, founder of Cultures, said: "This project is still in its early stages, but it is going to be really important to people who are granted leave to stay in the country and lose their asylum seeker accommodation, which makes it difficult to access training or employment. With hard work and some investment, we will undertake refurbishment work and offer decent homes to individuals or families trying to build a decent life in our town."

Chris Smith, Executive Director of Service Delivery and Development at Thirteen, said: "We are happy to support Cultures and the vital work in communities that risk being marginalised."