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 300,000 people are trapped in 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

  • LONG TERM EMPTY HOMES

    Homes that are largely unfurnished and have stood empty for more than 6 months

    DATA ANALYSIS

  • SHORT LETS

    Homes that could be homes, but instead are let on a short-term basis only

    MORE ON SHORT LETS

  • SECOND HOMES

    Furnished ‘homes’ that are used infrequently by an owner who owns multiple properties

    DATA ANALYSIS

  • EXEMPTED EMPTIES

    Homes that are empty but exempt from a Council Tax bill for a variety of reasons

    MORE ON EXEMPTED

There are too many homes standing empty

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.

What we work on

  • CAMPAIGNING

    We campaign on issues with the aim of bringing empty and underutilised homes back into use

    CAMPAIGNS

  • RESEARCH

    We carry out research to better understand the nuanced issues, and to support our campaigns

    PUBLICATIONS

  • DATA ANALYSIS

    We conduct deep dives into empty homes data to increase transparency on the issue

    EMPTY HOMES DATA

  • SUPPORT COMMUNITIES

    We support communities and local authorities in working to bring empty homes back into use

    COMMUNITY RESOURCES

  • RETROFITTING

    We are working with communities facilitating and supporting their empty homes retrofit journeys

    RETROFITTING

“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.