Media info

Media Contacts

Please contact either the Director, Will McMahon

Or the Campaigns & Policy Manager, Chris Bailey

(for further contact details click link below for media release)

NEW 20 May 2021: Latest Official Dwelling Stock Statistics reveal One Million homes we aren’t living in as pandemic deaths add to empties

14 April 2021: Coalition calls Empty Homes Day of Action Saturday 17th April - call for action on half a million empty homes

15th Feb 2021: Call for Government to introduce National Empty Homes Strategy at start of Empty Homes Week 2021 as 268,385 wasted homes lie long-term empty after 20% rise this year

11th Nov 2020 Official data shows massive rise in empty homes to 268,385 - the largest rise since current records began

12th August 2020 Global Empty Homes Network Launched in UK, United States and Australia with call for worldwide housing protections during Covid Crisis

28 April 2020 Pretty Vacant: Our New report explains why the next 500 towers won't solve London's housing crisis - as building re-starts across London, we explain why Government action is needed.

9 April 2020: Coronavirus and Empty Homes: How England's half a million empty homes can help the NHS: A Three Point Plan

LATEST MHCLG FIGURES RELEASED SHOW ANOTHER BIG RISE Click here for more

See the data for every local council area in England here, includes regional summary

LATEST MHCLG DATA Click here for more

For the latest comment and updates follow our Twitter account here

What MPs think: Read ComRes research on MPs attitudes to Empty Homes and the Housing Crisis here

Film from HuffPost:

For a look at how community-led organisations can bring empty homes back to use, with benefits for the whole community, see this recent HuffPost film featuring the great work of Canopy Housing in Leeds, creating homes from empty homes. The film also features a look at the wider picture from Action on Empty Homes, which covers the issues which unite empty homes in high and lower value markets around the country: https://bit.ly/2RHCWGY

Media Releases

LATEST: Coronavirus and Empty Homes - How England's half a million empty homes can help the NHS: A Three Point Plan

13th November 2019 Release on latest Government figures showing third consecutive year on year rise to 226,000

New poll shows huge parliamentary support for action on empty homes as homeless families in temporary accommodation hit ten-year high

Latest

What is MIPIM and why have so few heard about it?

The MIPIM conference in Cannes is, in the words of its organisers, ‘the world’s leading property market’, bringing together ‘the most influential players from all property sectors’. Why, then, have so few heard of it?
Community Action on Empty Homes Toolkit

Our new Toolkit is designed to encourage partnerships between local councils and communities to bring empty homes back into use, to meet local housing needs.
Come to Your Borough Meeting: What is happening to London's Housing? Upcoming meeting: Brent 27th May

In Spring 2021, Action on Empty Homes is hosting London borough meetings to ask why the new high-rise blocks we see springing up all around us are not reducing the numbers in temporary accommodation? See info from the Camden, Haringey, Southwark and Hackney meetings
Looking for the empty homes in Bromley

A supporter of our campaign to bring empties back into use has been examining the evidence on his doorstep in Bromley

How do I find the owner of an abandoned property?

Action on Empty Homes does not have the capacity to assist individuals or property developers in locating the owners of individual empty properties, but we can access expert advice for you and there are a number of ways in which the owner may be located, these are listed here:
Facts and figures

Government publish data on vacant dwellings for each local authority and for England as a whole. Action on Empty Homes publishes the most authoritative guide to empty homes data and each year we analyse the official data on long-term empty homes, producing the only comprehensive analysis of this data.
Current Projects

We are developing a toolkit for community-led empty homes projects and working on tackling wealth investor ‘buy to leave’ in London and through the Global Empty Homes Network. We are also building a national coalition to call for government investment in empty homes.
Community Action on Empty Homes Toolkit

Our new Toolkit is designed to encourage partnerships between local councils and communities to bring empty homes back into use, to meet local housing needs.
Publications and Research

We produce four types of publications: Campaign publications advocating policy responses to end the waste of empty homes Research and analysis of the issue including Empty Homes in England, the only comprehensive annual analysis of official data Reports on active programmes to bring empty homes into use Practical toolkits to support those working in the field
National Empty Homes Week 2021 starts 15th Feb as we call for action on massive rise in empties

National Empty Homes Week 15 – 21 Feb: Action on Empty Homes calls for Government action on escalating numbers of long-term empties . Numbers rose in 9 out of ten council areas. The 42,540 rise in 2020 was the fourth successive annual rise in numbers, but larger than the previous three years’ rises combined.
Why empty homes matter

There are over 216,000 homes long-term empty when England needs over 300,000 additional homes each year. Bringing long-term empty homes back into use will also help rebuild neighbourhoods and make environmental sense.
The solutions

We believe in community-led action to tackle empty homes, encouraged by active local authorities to support grassroots initiatives, underpinned by a government investment strategy to bring long-term empties back into use.
What we do

Action on Empty Homes campaigns for empty homes to be brought into use for people in housing need. We raise awareness, campaign for policy change, provide advice and research and develop ideas to help bring empty homes into use
London empty homes mapped

An interactive map showing London's empty homes by Borough alongside the costs of accommodation for homeless Londoners

Media info

Media Contacts

Film from HuffPost:

Media Releases

New poll shows huge parliamentary support for action on empty homes as homeless families in temporary accommodation hit ten-year high

New Government figures show empty homes rising at fastest rate for a decade

Empty Homes Week 2018 205,000 long-term empties need action now

Coalition for Community Investment launched – call for Government action spans private, social and public housing

Action needed empty homes rise for the first time since 2008

Empty Homes: why do some areas have high levels?

New Housing supply isn’t only about new build