The Empty Homes Agency (EHA) has called for effective action on empty homes to be at the heart of the Government’s plans to reward local authorities for housing supply.

Responding to the Government’s consultation on Housing and Planning Delivery Grant , the EHA welcomes the Government’s recognition of the role action to fill empty homes can play in housing supply, but questions whether the Government’s proposed approach will deliver results in practice.

Official figures show there are 675,000 empty homes in England, of which 288,000 have been empty for more than six months .

Henry Oliver, the EHA’s Policy Advisor, said:

“We’re pleased that the Government says it wants to support councils bring empty properties back into housing use . But at the same time the Government is about to abolish BVPI 64 - the indicator that has driven much local authority action on empty homes in recent years . Empty property officers nationwide are worried that the result could actually be fewer resources and less action on empty homes”.

The EHA supports the Government’s suggestion that having an “effective” empty property strategy should be an eligibility criterion for receiving grant . The EHA thinks further measures are needed to provide some assurance that strategies really are effective, however. Key recommendations are that the Government should:

• count empty homes brought back into use as part of a council’s housing supply;

• produce good practice guidance to councils on what an effective empty property strategy, integrated with wider housing and spatial policy, entails;

• encourage councils to act on empty homes by offering a premium level of grant for long-term empty homes brought back into use over new-build - in recognition of the regeneration and environmental advantages of re-using empty buildings;

• include long-term empty homes brought back into use in the definition of the new National Indicator 154 on housing supply ; and

• amend PPS3 Housing to give more encouragement to local authorities to take account of ‘windfalls’ (sites that come forward which are not identified in plans), especially empty homes brought back into use and conversions, in their plans for housing .

Henry Oliver concluded:

“Just having an empty property strategy on its own is no guarantee of effective action to tackle the scandal of empty homes. We need to design the grant to encourage councils to make the effort to tackle empty property. We need to give them clear guidance on what an effective strategy means. And above all we need to count empty homes brought back into use as a crucial part of housing supply”.