Empty homes are on the increase. So why aren't they being utilized to fix the housing scarcity?

In 1980, when Corina Poore, 36 years old and pregnant, first opened the door to a derelict house in New Cross Gate, south-east London, the estate agent declined to action in with her.

Inside were dead cats, dog excrement and filthy mattresses. Pigeons flew in through holes in the roof and there was no indoor toilet. The intense decaying smell was overwhelming.

Still, Corina chose this was her dream home. It was spacious, the ₤ 24,000 rate was economical and she made sure that everything was fixable.

After securing a mortgage, she got a grant of ₤ 3,500 from Lewisham council, her local authority, which spent for repairing the .

"At that point, ₤ 3,500 was quite a healthy amount, which I frantically required," recalls Corina.

Some 45 years on, her Victorian four-storey home is worth approximately ₤ 1m - something Corina, a semi-retired movie and TV critic who got in touch through Your Voice, Your BBC News, could never ever have actually paid for otherwise.

However, times have actually changed.

Lewisham Council has continued to offer grants to the owners of empty homes for enhancements - some for as much as ₤ 20,000 - however the uptake is low.

Just 22 grants were awarded in the district in the last 5 years - in spite of it having 2,253 empty homes. A spokesperson for Lewisham Council said that, in addition to the grants, it is working "to ensure homes aren't permitted to remain empty or become derelict in our district".

At present, nevertheless, 775 have actually been empty for longer than 6 months. Meanwhile, there is a national housing shortage, with increasing homelessness and long social housing waiting lists.

Since October 2024, there were nearly 720,000 empty homes in England, according to the government.

On the face of it, bringing these empty residential or commercial properties back into usage would make up a substantial portion of the 1.5 m homes that the Labour government desires to contribute to the country's housing stock by the end of its term.

But up until now that isn't taking place enough. The concern is why, and offered it could, in theory, be a reasonable option to 2 growing issues, is this a case of a missed out on chance - or is the problem more complicated still?

Rising long-lasting empty homes

Not all empty homes are in the alarming state of repair that Corina's as soon as was. But roughly 265,000 of them in England have actually been uninhabited for longer than six months and are categorized by the government as long-lasting empty (LTE). (Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have various housing policies, as housing is a devolved matter in the UK.)

Fixing these would likewise have a substantial impact on the neighborhoods around them, as long-lasting empty residential or commercial properties can bring in anti-social behaviour and in some cases lower a location's worth.

Ann Devereaux, of St Werburgh's in Bristol, states that after the residential or commercial property beside her home fell uninhabited, it became a "magnet" for crime.

"It makes me feel frightened when I leave my home or come in during the night," she included.

The government has actually formerly stepped in. The 2010-15 Coalition made financing offered via two plans: the Empty Homes Programme, which provided owners grants to fix their long-lasting empty homes