Charity In ‘Disused Homes’ Plea

A leading homeless charity has called for disused homes across Scotland to be brought back into use to help reduce housing waiting lists. Shelter Scotland made the call at a conference which focused on the private renting market.

Staff from the Newcastle Private Renting Project (PRP) told delegates at the one-day conference that private landlords are part of the solution to ensuring everyone in Scotland has a home. The Empty Homes Initiative aims to reduce the number of private rented empty properties. In five years, the number of empty homes across all types of housing in Benwell, an area of low-demand in Newcastle has fallen by 60 per cent.

There are approximately 87,000 empty homes in Scotland. Around 48,000 of them are in the private sector, which accounts for 55 per cent of all vacant residential properties.

Archie Stoddart, director of housing and homelessness charity, Shelter Scotland, said: “Hundreds of thousands of families are on waiting lists, or in temporary accommodation, and yet homes lie empty up and down the county. Localised schemes, like the recently announced Empty Homes Initiative in Argyll and Bute or in the Cairngorms National Park, are emerging and these are welcome.

“Giving local authorities a power to bring empty properties back into use would help to meet housing need and we’re disappointed these were not picked up in recent legislation.”

Claire McMullen, Project Manager for the Newcastle Private Renting Project, told the conference: “We have seen a substantial reduction in the number of empty homes both in the private sector and social housing. This has come through schemes, like offering landlords support to either to sell their property or to bring it back into use by giving them assistance to find suppliers.”