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Mayor urged to make empty houses available to families
Pippa Crerar12 Feb 2009
Boris Johnson was under pressure today to "get to grips" with London's housing crisis after new figures showed more than 80,000 properties were lying empty.
Soaring repossessions and a glut of new-build flats have been blamed for an increase in the number of vacant properties in the capital.
The figures from the Empty Homes Agency showed that between 2007 and last year the number increased from 80,691 to 82,327, despite falling the previous year.
Campaigners have argued the properties should be used to ease the shortage in London where thousands of families are struggling to find a home.
| Borough | Total vacant 2006 | Total vacant 2007 | Total vacant 2008 |
| Barking&Dagenham | 1375 | 1,717 | 1,178 |
| Barnet | 2898 | 3,323 | 3,627 |
| Bexley | 1589 | 2,320 | 1,609 |
| Brent | 3056 | 2,999 | 3,332 |
| Bromley | 2993 | 3,106 | 3,537 |
| Camden | 2659 | 2,018 | 2,215 |
| City of London | 78 | 73 | 62 |
| Croydon | 4206 | 3,393 | 3,576 |
| Ealing | 3696 | 2,247 | 2,457 |
| Enfield | 3013 | 2,739 | 2,358 |
| Greenwich | 3303 | 4,269 | 4,272 |
| Hackney | 2649 | 2,802 | 2,830 |
| Hammersmith&Fulham | 1698 | 1,623 | 1,954 |
| Haringey | 3260 | 2,382 | 2,046 |
| Harrow | 1379 | 1,349 | 940 |
| Havering | 1453 | 2,705 | 2,824 |
| Hillingdon | 3379 | 3,139 | 2,543 |
| Hounslow | 2033 | 1,036 | 1,564 |
| Islington | 2253 | 1,330 | 1,654 |
| Kensington &Chelsea | 2660 | 3,004 | 2,512 |
| Kingston upon Thames | 205 | 447 | 1,114 |
| Lambeth | 2729 | 3,614 | 3,496 |
| Lewisham | 3849 | 3,628 | 3,549 |
| Merton | 2995 | 994 | 1,173 |
| Newham | 3132 | 4,789 | 2,897 |
| Redbridge | 2501 | 2,367 | 1,911 |
| Richmond upon Thames | 1872 | 2,034 | 1,908 |
| Southwark | 4968 | 3,788 | 3,947 |
| Sutton | 2557 | 2,146 | 2,371 |
| Tower Hamlets | 2222 | 2,359 | 2,960 |
| Waltham Forest | 3020 | figure unavailable | 2,715 |
| Wandsworth | 3481 | 3,478 | 3,612 |
| Westminster | 3569 | 3,473 | 3,584 |
| LONDON | 86,730 | 80,691 | 82,327 |
Reader views (9)
Yeah, Skandy, people do get a bit jealous and spiteful when they're living with 3 kids in one room in a hostel that costs the government £500 a week when they know damn well some nasty folks have illegally subletted a council flat and are living quite nicely thank you in the countryside on frauded benefits, rental income, and cash jobs. Funnily enough. You got a problem with that?
- Real, London, 13/02/2009 00:20
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80,000 empty properties, hardly scratches at the problem, even IF you can put some of them back into use.
The real problem is that there are not enough properties being built, evidenced by The Borough of Redbriges' statement, a few years ago, that the wait for social housing on their list had reached ninety years.
- Frank H., London., 12/02/2009 22:23
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Then you'll have a load of squats - it will make more of a problem than you can ever imagine Boris.
- Rosie, Arizona,,, USA, 12/02/2009 19:12
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They should buy back empty Ex-council houses, at the price that they were sold for.If they are empty they are no longer needed for their original purpose. I looked at an Ex Council House which was up for sale at £185000 and had been up for sale unoccupied for nearly 2 years. These house were built with taxpayers money to provide housing for the less fortunate, then the less fortunate were able to buy them cheap, sell them at a profit and pay no Tax on the profit. All house sales should be subject to a 10% profit tax. after all you keep 90% and in the case of negitive equity you pay nothing.
- Jim Alan, Lake District, 12/02/2009 18:34
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Why don't people mind their own business and get a life. There may be very good reasons for the flats being empty. I sick of these snitches denouncing everybody for breaking the rules. It's all just jealousy and spite. Sickening.
- Skandy, Bow London, 12/02/2009 18:33
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I agree with P Staker, I know of many people who have council / HA flats and have sublet them and moved out of London or live elsewhere and use them as pied a terres. The Government should URGENTLY check who is really living where and that would free up half of the housing stock! The council don't care and when I 'grassed up' one person who had bought a property, moved out of London and left a family sized HA flat sitting empty, and may or may not have handed it back, Paddington Churches HA basically told me where to go. It has now been empty and untouched since last Sept. It could have made a homeless family very happy for Christmas. Social housing properties rarely become vacant and when they do, the council should be straight in there and allocating it to someone who needs it. There is a vacant council flat on my street where the previous tenant died and that is also sitting empty. The government should be encouraging council and HA tenants to grass up illegal sublets and acting on the information when it's given instead of telling whistleblowers to get lost!
- Real, London, 12/02/2009 17:13
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80,000 homes vacant.Here is a chance for our "second homes" MPs to get a home near to their places of "work" so saving the taxpayer a few bob. Will they take up the opportunity, well I wont hold my breath.
- Awesome Geronimo, Leeds UK, 12/02/2009 14:31
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The housing associations are as much to blame for this, I know of 4 people who have multiple flats, and sub let them.
I reported it, and nothing has happened., so if I know of 4 people, how many more are there?
- P Staker, London, 12/02/2009 11:30
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Get the banks to start lending again, especially affordable housing mortgages, and more Londoners will be able to buy. Less empty houses.
- Rebecca, London, 12/02/2009 10:32
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