Thursday, 24 May 2012

Inside Housing
Empty homes campaign

Stories with this category.

  • Empty homes campaigner attacks squatting plans

    06/12/2011

    The presenter of a Channel 4 programme highlighting the ‘scandal’ of empty homes has slammed government plans to criminalise squatting.

  • Fill the gaps

    06/05/2011

    In 2009 this magazine’s Empty Promise campaign led calls for social housing organisations to raise their game in tackling the then almost 1 million empty homes in the UK. News that the number of empty homes in England has dropped significantly is, on the face of it, therefore, to be welcomed.

  • £96.4m borrowing potential for HAs

    13/01/2011

    Four housing associations could increase their combined borrowing capacity by £96.4 million over five years by selling off stock or switching empty properties to different tenures.

  • Stunell urges public to report empty homes

    12/01/2011

    Communities minister Andrew Stunell has urged the public to report empty homes to local authorities to take advantage of the financial incentives being offered to tackle the problem.

  • £100m to bring empty homes back into use

    25/10/2010

    The Government has announced a £100 million fund to bring empty homes back into use as part of the comprehensive spending review.

  • HCA map to pinpoint location of England’s 652,000 empty homes

    20/08/2010

    The Homes and Communities Agency will map every empty home in England in a bid to dramatically reduce their number - an estimated 652,000.The map will be used to pinpoint empty homes ‘hotspots’ and provide information on their surroundings.

  • Scotland to blitz on empty homes

    13/08/2010

    Shelter Scotland has secured £55,000 every year for the next two years to tackle the problem of empty homes in the country.

  • Cash incentive to refurbish empty homes

    13/08/2010

    The government is considering handing social landlords new financial incentives to persuade them to bring empty homes back into use.

  • Promising progress

    29/01/2010

    Inside Housing’s award-nominated Empty Promise campaign launched a year ago this week. There’s been plenty to celebrate since, says David Ireland, chief executive of the Empty Homes Agency

  • Buoyed by success, campaign lands on prime minister’s desk

    17/04/2009

    Three demands, 11 weeks, 380 backers. Inside Housing’s Empty Promise campaign to tackle empty homes ended this week with a trip to Number 10 Downing Street.

  • Not an empty promise

    17/04/2009

    On the face of it, Inside Housing’s Empty Promise campaign to tackle the rising number of empty homes in the UK has failed.

  • The full view

    10/04/2009

    Alex Sorngaard is leading Liverpool’s fight against empty homes - a battle which involves a few guys in a white van, a HIT man and some gentle persuasion.Continuing Inside Housing’s Empty Promise campaign, Martin Hilditch discovers more

  • City Hall supports our empty homes demands

    08/04/2009

    What links a suburban house in south London and the architect behind the Palace of Westminster?

  • Boris backs our empty homes campaign

    08/04/2009

    Boris Johnson has thrown his weight behind Inside Housing’s campaign to tackle empty homes.

  • A persistent problem

    27/03/2009

    Delving into Inside Housing’s archives, Simon Brandon discovers that with 700,000 voids in England in 1984, the problem of empty homes is nothing new

  • History lessons

    20/03/2009

    Housing associations are key to solving the empty homes crisis, but grants rules must change first

  • And… action!

    20/03/2009

    With hundreds of backers, cross-party support and a major victory already in the bag, Inside Housing’s Empty Promise campaign has been a blockbusting success. Caroline Thorpe puts our three campaign demands in the spotlight to determine how the fight to fill the UK’s voids can have an even happier ending

  • The single-minded conversation

    20/03/2009

    Caroline Thorpe finds housing minister Margaret Beckett preoccupied by supply

  • One down, two to go on Empty Promise demands

    13/03/2009

    The government has signed up to one of the main demands of Inside Housing’s empty homes campaign.

  • Video: Margaret Beckett on empty homes

    11/03/2009

    The housing minister explains how councils can do more to bring empty properties back into use

  • Finance ministers back repairs VAT cut

    11/03/2009

    European finance ministers have removed the final obstacle preventing European Union governments from cutting VAT on building repairs.

  • Minister backs action on empty homes

    10/03/2009

    Housing minister Margaret Beckett has backed an ‘increased focus’ on bringing empty homes back into use.

  • Europe backs tax cut to help fill empty homes

    27/02/2009

    A landmark vote in the European Parliament has given a huge boost to Inside Housing’s campaign to bring empty homes back into use.

  • Why are there 2.4 empty homes for every household on the waiting list in Sunderland?

    27/02/2009

    Caroline Thorpe examines the latest government figures to find out, and considers the local problems in Hull and Cambridge that contribute to a national blight

  • Empty Promise supporters

    20/02/2009

    See who has signed up to support the campaign

  • Opposition parties join empty homes fight

    20/02/2009

    The government is facing increased pressure to take action against empty homes after the Liberal Democrats became the second opposition party in a week to announce plans to tackle the UK’s burgeoning vacant stock.

  • Lib Dems demand empty homes action

    19/02/2009

    The Liberal Democrats are calling for a repair and renewal loan scheme for empty property owners and a £40 million fund for short-life housing.

  • Helping Lorraine

    17/02/2009

    Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps explains the thinking behind his party’s empty homes plan

  • Housing sector welcomes Tory empty homes plan

    16/02/2009

    Conservative Party plans to use empty homes to ease the shortage of social housing have been welcomed by the sector.

  • Tory plan would use empty homes for temporary housing

    13/02/2009

    The Conservatives have unveiled a scheme to tackle social housing waiting lists by bringing some of the UK’s estimated 1 million empty homes back into use.

  • Empty homes soar as recession bites

    10/02/2009

    The recession has led to the largest annual rise in empty homes for 17 years across England.

  • Brighton rejects empty homes plea

    09/02/2009

    Brighton and Hove council has narrowly rejected a motion calling for it to use empty homes for temporary housing.

  • Empty Promise gets Tory vote of support

    06/02/2009

    The Conservative Party has thrown its weight behind Inside Housing’s campaign to slash the number of empty homes across Britain.

  • Exposing the scandal of empty homes

    05/02/2009

    Empty Homes Agency chief executive David Ireland explains why he is backing Inside Housing’s campaign to bring empty properties back into use.

  • Fed calls for Northern Rock to help fill empty homes

    02/02/2009

    Northern Rock should be forced to lend to people on low incomes so they can buy empty homes, the National Housing Federation has said.

  • Campaign launched to fill empty homes

    30/01/2009

    Inside Housing has launched a campaign to fill the UK’s empty homes, which are expected to number over 1 million by the end of the year.

  • Join our fight against empty homes

    30/01/2009

    This week Inside Housing launches a campaign to help landlords tackle the spiralling number of empty homes in the UK.

  • What a waste

    30/01/2009

    As housing waiting lists grow and social house building grinds to a halt, hundreds of thousands of homes like these lie empty. Inside Housing this week launches its Empty Promise campaign to fill the UK’s voids. Caroline Thorpe reports.

  • Empty homes could slash waiting lists

    22/12/2008

    The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has called on the government to do more to bring empty homes back into use.

  • The bottom line

    12/12/2008

    It’s time for Alistair Darling to take his head out of the sand, says Bill Randall

  • Answer to the supply crisis is lying empty

    05/12/2008

    The box of financial tricks opened in last week’s pre-Budget report was welcomed by most in the housing world.

  • Empty promises

    02/12/2008

    How Westminster Council has responded to demand for social housing by bringing empty properties back into use

  • Waste not, want not

    21/11/2008

    Among all the talk of falling house building rates, another threat to housing supply is rearing its head again - vacancies.

  • Thousands of new homes stand empty

    14/11/2008

    Thousands of homes built by housing associations to help people on to the property ladder have lain unsold for more than six months, figures obtained by Inside Housing reveal.

  • Second home tax exploited

    31/10/2008

    More than half of England’s local authorities have abolished council tax discounts for empty homes in a bid to bring them back into use.

  • Councils told to revive empty homes

    15/10/2008

    Local authorities in Wales should force private landlords to bring empty homes back into use, a charity has warned.

  • London mayor releases £60m for empty homes

    09/07/2008

    The Mayor of London has made good on his manifesto commitment to spend £60 million bringing empty homes back into use.

  • Empty homes a private problem as social demand remains strong

    06/06/2008

    When the latest empty homes figures were released last week, one town was cast firmly into the spotlight.

  • First empty homes rise in 10 years

    30/05/2008

    Investors who buy up homes and leave them empty have been blamed for the first surge in vacant housing in England in almost a decade.

  • Homes left vacant as landlords struggle to find tenants

    28/05/2008

    The number of vacant homes in England has increased for the first time in nine years and looks set to rise further.

  • Brown pledges £200m to buy empty homes

    14/05/2008

    The government is to give £200 million to the Housing Corporation to buy developers’ hard-to-shift homes in a bid to prop up the struggling housing market.