The latest figures published by Action on Empty Homes show that the number of empty homes rose in most local authority areas in 2022.
They estimate over 1 million homes in England currently do not have residents. This can affect the fabric of local communities as well as making things harder for people to find a secure and stable place to live.
The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill is set to introduce extended powers for local councils to change council tax premiums on second homes and long term empty properties. The Lib Dems are also calling for changes to planning law to give councils the power to decide on changes of use from family homes to holiday homes.
ALDC has put together a campaign pack of resources to help you campaign to bring more empty homes back into use in your area.
All the resources need to be localised for your council area using the below table from Action on Empty Homes – in particular the final 3 columns showing the number of homes not in use, the percentage of local homes that are empty and the prevalence of empty homes amongst the whole housing stock.
Using the data in the table above you can localise the below resources:
- Council Motion
- Focus Drop In Article – Affinity – PDF
- Template Press Release
Lib Dem HQ also have a campaign pack on second homes that can be found here.