To mark the start of Empty Homes Week from the 15-21st October, ‘Action on Empty Homes’ has demanded the government’s support to refurbish thousands of empty properties across the UK
A recent report has shown there are 605,000 empty properties spread across the country, of which 205,000 are classified as long-term empty homes in areas that have experienced under-investment for many years.
To make a change, Action Homeless began the Action on Empty Homes campaign which has led the nationally recognised Coalition for Community Investment, an initiative which demands government investment in areas with high levels of empty homes.
The requested funds aim to support a series of community-based refurbishment programmes to re-purpose the homes for those in housing need.
The director of Action on Empty Homes, Will McMahon, said “It is very worrying that the number of long-term empty homes has grown by 5,000 in the last year.
“Homes that would be more than affordable stand empty across the country because of the lack of a government strategy to support councils to bring them back into use.
“It is good that the government has just scrapped the cap on council borrowing, but what we ask is why not back those councils with the powers and finance to bring hundreds of thousands of existing wasted empty homes back into use for England’s homeless’ right now?”
According to the ‘Households in temporary accommodation’ (England)’ (26 July 2018) report, a staggering 79,880 households are currently in temporary accommodation, despite thousands of empty homes punctuating the nation’s housing crisis.
In Leicestershire alone, the Leicester based campaign has transformed seven empty houses across the past two years, into suitable accommodation for families and individuals.
Commenting on the charities contributions, Mark Grant, Chief Executive of Action Homeless commented said: “We are being approached by more and more people every day who, through no fault of their own, are finding themselves unable to afford to put a roof over their heads.
“Through the ‘Action On Empty Homes’ scheme I had one most rewarding experiences of my career when Action Homeless was able to give a family and their newborn baby a home for Christmas.’’
For more information about the campaign and to make donations, www.actionhomeless.org.uk/action-empty-homes
