Empty Homes Toolkit

Why is it important to reuse empty homes?

Wasted Housing

Bringing an empty home back into use is almost always a change for the better. Most significantly it provides a home. But neighbours and the community also see local improvements; they gain a new neighbour, and often lose an eyesore.  When several homes are returned to use within a small community the benefits can be wider, helping to improve the local environment and boost the local housing market.  Government commissioned research estimates that there are 1.6 million households or nearly 4 million people in housing need in England.  Whilst bringing empty homes into use cannot possibly provide homes for all of them, it could house a significant proportion. In England there are around 750,000 empty homes, 300,000 are long term empty ( meaning they have been empty for more than six months). If average-sized households occupied all those homes they would house nearly 700,000 people.

Whilst it is true that vacancy levels are higher in areas of the country with lower levels of housing need. Every region of the country has more households in need than there are empty homes. Bringing empty homes into use is something that happens already, each year nearly 300,000 empty homes are returned to use. A process that provides three times as many homes as the housebuilding industry. Unfortunately a similar number of homes become empty each year.  But relatively small changes can alter this balance and help create an increase in housing

A Bad Neighbour

Empty homes are not just unused housing, they can also be abandoned by their owners. Homes in this state can deteriorate quickly. In just a few months an unkempt garden can become a thicket of bushes and brambles. Litter and rubbish can accumulate and can even attract fly tipping. In extreme cases abandoned homes can be vandalised and occasionally targeted by arsonists. In some areas unused housing makes tempting targets for squatters.

Untapped Potential

All buildings embody the work and resources that went into them when they were first built. Bringing a home into use taps into those resources. In many circumstances bringing empty property into use is a highly efficient way of providing housing. Research has shown that reusing an empty house - and the embodied carbon within them - brings significant savings in energy / carbon emmissions compared with building a new house.

Further information

Squatters