Meet the team

Our staff team

Chris Bailey: Campaigns Manager

chris.bailey(at)actiononemptyhomes.org

Chris joined Action on Empty Homes in November 2017. His background is in communications and community-based regeneration.

Brighid Carey: Consultancy and Projects Manager

brighid.carey(at)actiononemptyhomes.org

Brighid joined Action on Empty Homes in May 2016 as project manager to deliver a study focussed on bringing empty homes into use through community-based approaches. Brighid is now developing our Community action on empty homes toolkit as a resource for local authorities and community groups.

Will McMahon: Director

will.mcmahon(at)actiononemptyhomes.org

Will joined Action on Empty Homes in May 2018 to help deliver a new strategic direction to the project. Will has worked in a range of voluntary sector and campaigning organisations including the Child Poverty Action Group, the National Children’s Bureau and the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.

Our Board

Nick Billingham

Nick is the Head of Devonshires’ Housing Management Department. He has been involved in a number of high profile cases impacting on housing law.

Alice Brownfield

Alice is a qualified Architect and Associate Director at Peter Barber Architects, a leading UK architectural practice specialising in housing and homeless facilities. She has also taught at a number of schools of architecture and is currently a visiting critic at The Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University.

Aditi Chauhan

Aditi Chauhan is a Global Strategic Marketing leader with over 13 years of experience in the B2B Industry having worked with industry leaders like NI, CNN, MindTree leading various functions and teams internationally with vast experience in SE Asia, Africa, Europe and India.

Ken Cheung

Ken Cheung joined the Action on Empty Homes board in November 2020. His background is in mental health and he currently works at an NHS mental health service as an Assistant Psychologist. Ken is interested in addressing the rise in empty homes and its impact on communities, wellbeing and mental health.

Tom Crowley

Our Chair, Tom Crowley, is a Management and Planning Consultant. From 2005 until April 2018 he was Chief Executive of Horsham District Council in West Sussex. Horsham was active in tackling empty homes, bringing many back to use.

Rebecca Eng

Rebecca is an architect working in heritage and conservation. She has experience of working with Local Authorities, Housing Associations, residents’ groups and charities on housing and community-use projects.

Jon Fitzmaurice

Jon is the originator and director of self-help-housing.org which promotes and supports community-led self-help housing initiatives. Between 2011 – 2015 he worked closely with MHCLG to help deliver their £50m Empty Homes Community Grants Programme. He has worked in the housing/homelessness sector for over 35 years in a wide variety of executive and non-executive roles.

Andy Ford

Andy Ford joined the Board in May 2019. Andy started his career as a Chartered Accountant in local government before becoming a public sector auditor and then a management consultant focused on public sector transformation. He was a partner at PwC between 2004 and 2016.

Steve Fox

Steve is an Architect and Commercial Manager at Manalo & White Architects, a London practice with a wide range of specialisations. He has over 25 years of professional experience working in the UK and internationally. He is an active housing campaigner and has recently worked with campaigning groups in Islington and Hackney.

Rex McKenzie

Rex is an academic economist at Kingston University, London. He has also held Lecturer, Assistant Professor and Senior Researcher posts in Economics at the University of Technology, Kingston, Jamaica; Purchase College, SUNY, New York, USA; and University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Before academia he worked as a professional Foreign Exchange Dealer for sixteen years and this professional experience has framed his research, which is usually about the relationship between high finance and social inequality. His current research focus is on offshore investment in urban real estate in the UK.

Emmanuel Unuigboje

Emmanuel joined the Action on Empty Homes board in November 2020. His background is in Real Estate and currently works as a RICS residential surveyor. He is passionate about people and communities, and is motivated by the challenge of tackling empty homes and bringing more back to use.

Latest

Job Advert: Project Support Officer at Action on Empty Homes Interested in housing and the need for a retrofit revolution?

Action on Empty Homes is looking for a part-time Project Support Officer to work for a minimum of 10 months on a project to investigate the feasibility of retrofitting long-term empty homes to help meet the climate challenge in three local authority areas. If the project is successful, then a further three-year initiative may follow. Deadline 12 June 11:59pm Start: August 2022 Salary: £30,000 plus pension pro-rata 17.5 hours per week
Government Proposes New Empty Homes and Second Homes Tax Powers - but is taxation enough?

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill published 11th May offers councils new powers to increase tax on empties after a year and double Council Tax on unused 'second homes'. But is this enough?
Our Pretty Vacant Manchester report asks is Manchester Building 'The Wrong Housing'

Action on Empty Homes new report supported by the Evan Cornish Foundation reports on work to examine vacancy levels and housing policy in Manchester and asks questions about the City's 'hidden empties', its persistently high level of so-called 'second homes' and the impact of Airbnb on access to housing.
Empty Homes Week 2022 showed the need for action and investment

Across the country Empty Homes Week 2022 saw councils showcase innovation as national voices called on Government to invest in the wasted opportunity empty homes represent - in order to expand housing supply and meet NetZero and energy price-rise challenges.

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.
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.
National Empty Homes Week 2021 starts with 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.
Massive 20% rise in empty homes up over 42,000 to 268,385 while 100,000 families are stuck in Temporary Accommodation

Government data released today shows a massive year on year rise of over 42,000 to a total of 268,385 long-term empty homes in England, as nearly 100,000 families languish in temporary accommodation. This is the biggest rise since current records began.
October 9th 2021 Day of Action - We are in a climate, health and housing emergency!

On Saturday 9th October 2021 the Campaign Against Empty Homes, a coalition Action on Empty Homes is part of, held a national Day of Action to highlight the waste of empty homes across England. You can watch it on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/JpnSAtEDZS4
London empty homes mapped

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

From our new toolkit for community-led empty homes projects to work tackling wealth investor ‘buy to leave’ and the Global Empty Homes Network; and a national coalition calling on Government to invest to save.
Why empty homes matter

There are over 238,000 homes long-term empty when over 100,000 families languish in insecure and unsuitable Temporary Accommodation at a cost of over £1billion a year. Bringing long-term empty homes back into use helps rebuild neighbourhoods and makes 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.