Summary
In England, there are many empty homes, but they are not being used to address the housing shortage effectively. Even though grants are available to fix these homes, not many people are taking advantage of them, and long-term empty homes continue to rise. Despite past efforts by the government that reduced the number of empty homes, recent programs have ended, leaving the issue unresolved.
Key Facts
- England has almost 720,000 empty homes as of October 2024.
- Roughly 265,000 homes have been empty for more than six months.
- Lewisham Council offers improvement grants for empty homes, but uptake is low.
- In the last five years, only 22 grants were awarded in a borough with 2,253 empty homes.
- Bringing empty homes back into use could help meet Labour's goal of adding 1.5 million homes.
- Past government schemes, like the Empty Homes Programme, reduced the total number of empty homes.
- The Empty Homes Programme has ended, and rewards from the New Homes Bonus have decreased.
