Yet, as we head toward October 2024, the alarming reality shared by England is a housing crisis defined by the jaw-dropping number of vacant homes. Almost 720,000 homes lie vacant in communities nationwide. This raises the most urgent question of all—why do these homes sit vacant while homelessness and housing crises are allowed to flourish unabated? Without this regulatory fix, the situation has become untenable. An estimated 354,000 people—including over 180,000 children—are currently experiencing homelessness, while over 1.33 million households are waiting for social housing.
The inspiration Corina began an odyssey in 1980 when she purchased a rundown house in New Cross Gate, South-East London for only £24,000. Her story helps us understand the problem and the solution of the country’s empty homes. Poore received a grant of £3,500 from Lewisham Council to repair her property, demonstrating how financial assistance can revitalize abandoned homes. In spite of past federal attempts to correct this disconnect through funding initiatives, thousands of homes continue to sit vacant.
The Empty Homes Programme provides grants to owners to restore long-term empty homes. At the same time, the New Homes Bonus scheme incentivizes councils to bring these properties to life and back into use. In 2016 the government took the very wrong decision to end the Empty Homes Programme. They went further still, removing the rewards from the New Homes Bonus scheme. No wonder this policy shift has been a big reason why we’ve stagnated on making any headway on the empty homes crisis.
Councils in England already have the power to apply premium council tax rates to long term empty homes. These premiums can go up to 300% of the baseline premiums. With the loss of a large financial incentive, you would expect that the national response to empty homes would be robust. In the past five years, just 22 of those grants went to one borough that’s home to 2,253 vacant properties.
Adam Cliff, policy lead at the Empty Homes Network, gets to the heart of the difficulty in tackling this issue. “If a council has 2,000 empty homes, they need 2,000 different solutions,” he stated. His statements highlight the need for focused, localized approaches to rehabilitate each unique property in the most effective way.
Recently, we’ve seen hopeful signs that our policymakers are finding their own way back to this essential issue. Angela Rayner, the Housing Secretary, announced plans for councils to gain more authority to compel landlords to rent out empty homes. If successful, this new effort is likely to expand the supply of useful, immediately-available properties for communities in need.
New housing minister Matthew Pennycook has already admitted government needs to do a better job at using existing resources in more imaginative and efficient ways. He placed immense focus on the need for us to quickly convert unused properties into livable homes. This action is critical to start to remedy our dire housing crisis.
Before these changes took effect, some community members had grown understandably frustrated by the deliberate pace of the government’s response to empty homes. Ann Devereaux expressed her fear and anxiety living in proximity to abandoned homes. “It makes me feel scared when I leave my house or come in at night,” she said.
Benjamin Radstone on the dangerous mindset behind empty homes. He notes that often, property owners do not act until pushed to act by the authorities. “They’ll do it when they’re ready to do it,” he remarked.
Corina Poore’s experience is a hopeful, poignant reminder of what can happen when connection and support are present. “When you’re young you can do these things,” she reflected on her renovation journey. She added that many other houses are in better condition than her initial purchase and only require minor updates such as kitchens and bathrooms. “I think it should still be encouraged very vigorously,” Poore stated.
England is currently in the grip of a housing crisis and the situation is aggravated by hundreds of thousands of vacant dwellings. It will take creative thinking and collaboration to meet this challenge head on. As the national renter crisis continues to grow, the demand for smarter policies that incentivize landlords to reoccupy vacant homes has never been greater.
