It’s National Empty Homes Week (Monday 28 February to Sunday 6 March 2022) and we want your help tackling the problem of houses and flats left lying derelict and unoccupied while the housing crisis in the UK and Ireland continues unabated.
Organised by the charity Action on Empty Homes, the week offers participating councils the chance to show the action they are taking to bring empty homes back into use and tackle those properties that have a negative impact on their neighbourhood.
The week is a great opportunity to provide assistance to the owners of empty homes and offer local residents advice on how to report any empty homes in their neighbourhoods.
Three themes
This year’s National Empty Homes Week has three key themes:
Action on Empty Homes wants to hear about local councils work and initiatives. In past years, this has included ‘before and after’ success stories and images, information videos on social media; and local interviews and case studies.
Second, the charity wants to promote the opportunities offered by community-based approaches to bring empty homes back into use. It has a Community Action on Empty Homes Toolkit that supports local authorities and communities, highlighting how creative partnerships can deliver lasting change, and is based on the practical experiences of community organisations and councils throughout England.
Retrofitting while renovating
The third theme is for Empty Homes Week to explore the value of retrofitting while renovating, so that empty homes can be ‘future-proofed’ to match the challenge of housing, health and environmental effects. Empty homes can be brought up to a standard that meets the challenges of climate change targets and rising fuel costs.
The charity will be publicising the week through its social media channels (@emptyhomes or #emptyhomes, or #EmptyHomesWeek2022).
Muhammad Uddin, Finders International’s public sector development manager for empty homes, said: “National Empty Homes Week is a brilliant way to draw attention to the long-standing and continuing problem of empty homes in the UK. The latest Government data shows that more than 238,000 homes in England have been empty for over six months and in total over 600,000 homes are currently vacant.
“In this country, some 100,000 families are trapped in often poor quality, insecure temporary accommodation, which does not meet the standards that are required of permanent, secure, social housing.
“We’re delighted to lend our support to this initiative and encourage anyone who lives near an empty home to report it to us, as we offer a free service to local councils where we trace the owners of empty properties. If someone dies without leaving a will and there does not appear to be any next of kin, homes and flats can often lie empty for years when instead they could be renovated and restored to the market.”
To report an empty property, please contact Muhammad on [email protected] or call 020 3940 0089.
To find out more information on Finders International’s services, please visit the website. Alternatively, you can contact Finders via email: [email protected] or telephone: +44 (0) 20 7490 4935