There are too many homes standing empty.
There are over 1 MILLION homes in England standing empty tonight. This figure comes from the over 260,000 long-term empty homes, plus homes standing vacant much of the year due to being a second home or a holiday let. It also includes empty homes that are exempted from the official council tax numbers. That means that 1 in every 25 homes are empty.
In the midst of a housing crisis, we cannot afford to waste homes. In England over 100,000 families are trapped in often poor quality, insecure Temporary Accommodation whilst many more rough sleep. Thousands of families are under stress trying to find an affordable home to rent or buy.
It’s time for action on empty homes.
Types of Empty Homes
There are too many homes standing empty
Latest Government data shows that over 260,000 homes in England have been empty for over six months. In all, over 600,000 homes are currently vacant.
Add in over 67,000 holiday lets and 253,000 second homes and total vacancy sits at around one million homes, meaning that across England 1 in every 25 homes is without residents.
Leaving homes empty is a waste
We believe that we cannot afford to waste such properties. In England 100,000 families are trapped in often poor quality, insecure Temporary Accommodation, which does not meet the standards that are required of the permanent, secure, social housing these families are entitled to.
Bringing empty homes into use helps neighbourhoods
There are neighbourhoods with clusters of empty homes. Tackling empty homes in these areas should be part of wider neighbourhood initiatives that start from the perspective of the issues people face there. Communities can rebuild, but while councils can facilitate and support this, Government should also empower them and must urgently invest in them; otherwise the much-vaunted 'Levelling Up' and 'Building Back Better' are destined to become just two more discredited soundbite slogans.
It makes environmental sense
Creating homes from empty properties saves substantial amounts of material compared to building new homes, minimises the amount of land used for development and avoids wasting embedded carbon; helping to combat climate change. Furthermore retrofitting empty homes makes sense as deep retrofit is most easily and cost-effectively achieved while homes are unoccupied.
“I support Action on Empty Homes because they recognise the large role the issue can play in the housing crisis”
We're a small but mighty team, funded solely by grants and donations. We believe that with 250,000 homes sitting long-term empty in England and over 250,000 people in housing need more must be done to bring empty homes back into use. You can support us in this mission.
With your help we raise awareness so that the issue simply can't be ignored. We lobby policy makers and support communities bringing homes back into use.
We take action on empty homes.