The empty homes challenge

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Reprioritising Residence: Use Before Ownership

We're told its time to build back better - Sam Burgum looks at how those seeking solutions to our housing crisis can learn from how Britain rebuilt after WW2
Why Nigeria's millions of empty homes count

In Nigeria ..“newly built luxury dwellings are springing up throughout cities made possible often through forced eviction of poor communities. These units do not fulfil any housing need, with many remaining vacant as vehicles for money laundering or investment.” Leilani Farha, September 2019, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Adequate Housing
Will the last investor leaving Southwark please turn out the lights.. until Airbnb is back in business

New Government data shows how the Coronavirus pandemic shines a light on how we keep on building housing which doesn't house anyone: so homelessness rises, affordability declines and home ownership drops. Southwark is the canary in this particular coalmine.
How Lambeth fought back to save Nour

Jack Baillie reports on how people in Lambeth fought back against the destructive effects of wealth investment in their community. Story updated with links on the battle to stop the Hondo Tower, Lambeth's planning approval and Sadiq Kahn's latest action to review the decision.

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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
London empty homes mapped

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