Action on Empty Homes @emptyhomes

Our major new report with @qurbanist of @sheffielduni and @sse_data recommends policy changes to boost rural and coastal housing access. Inc proposals on '2nd homes', Airbnb licensing, planning, social housing, local tax retention & responsible lending: shorturl.at/kHLR5

Government considering a ban on builders/developers being able to choose their own building control inspectors... This would be a big and necessary change to a broken system insidehousing.co.uk/news/governmen…

London's empy homes and the failed housing policies which created them.. Over half the homeless families in Temporary Accommodation in England are Londoners, at a time when the capital is building ever greater stocks of empty homes ..up 138% in a decade! swlondoner.co.uk/news/26052026-…

'Everything we’re doing is too small, too slow, and too late.. we’ve just been accumulating vacant properties There's a sense we are literally building empty homes and certainly not building the homes that Londoners need’ London empties up 138% in a decade swlondoner.co.uk/news/26052026-…

"an awful lot of housing to keep intentionally empty when you’re pissing away vast amounts of public money to private landlords on keeping people in really shit accommodation, which is going to cost us all more as a society in future – as a direct result” theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/n…

I feel mad for pointing it out. It's obvious isn't it? Andy Burnham's point about the last 40 years being bad for North England isn't shown to be wrong by the success of King's Cross. Andy and I both celebrate that. That there's no Northern equivalent is precisely the problem.

@graylingn16 @KateM45 All of the legislation needed to do this already exists. Question to ask Clive is why govt aren't insisting that the regulators enforce it.

You'll want to be sitting down for this bit. Water companies are currently £82.7 billion in debt, have paid themselves £85 billion in dividends, leak over a trillion of litres of water per year, dump sewage for almost 4 million hours per year, have been convicted of over 1,200 criminal acts since 1989 and an average of 35% of your bill goes on nothing but paying more interest and yet more dividends. And not a single company has ever lost their operating licence. 👇

Developers pour £££ into politics to keep the system working for their profits. And while their money tries to silence local democracy, the housing crisis goes unsolved. Sign my petition to kick developer cash out of politics. 👇

I can understand management companies wanting to maintain age limits for people trying to buy retirement flats, but if someone has inherited the flat it's ludicrous not to be more flexible, when that person still has to pay service charges! @BBCBreakfast bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

@LostInSW19 @mtpennycook Its also not net additions take a look how many were sold off or demolished.. 'In 2024-25, 9,236 social homes in England were sold through RightToBuy. Overall, including all disposals and demolitions, 16,291 social rented homes were lost.' ..so we ended up with less.

@mtpennycook That 'social and affordable' figure would presumably include shared ownership homes - and we all know that these homes are not 'affordable'. Conflating the two categories is a way for government to massage the figures. We see through it.

In 2024/25 councils delivered c.10,500 social and affordable homes, 16% of all new affordable housing and the highest annual total recorded since 1991/92.

However, the gains from getting more players on the pitch delivering homes at current unaffordable prices are inherently limited. It does nothing to change the numbers of people who can afford those homes. It provides more choice for the people who can.

@Listen_toLocals Also important to look at what some of those 'costs and levies the 'Homebuilders Federation' moan about represent - broadly the future of our planet and the past misbehaviour of the construction industry (Building Safety Levy) - paying bonuses at our expense while building crap.

important data showing the genuine constraints in building new housing which are long-term in their solution - and why we must look to releasing empty buildings and refurb NOW @emptyhomes

@NickPriceLDN Council housing is a public asset that generates long term permanent rental income back to local authorities whilst saving the taxpayer money on rip-off temporary accomodation as well as improved health/education/life outcomes. We spend £5.5million a day on TA.

I am not keen on the term "Manchesterism" and am among those who feel that Mancheter's recent success was founded on the work of a great many that was much more pro-business and much less socialist than Andy Burnham most recent efforts,... however,... capx.co/manchesterism-…

Long-term empty homes have risen by over 50% in a decade that has seen homelessness rise and rents rocket - but critically in London the numbers more than doubled, rising 138% during a period where over half of all homeless families have come from London.

When it comes to housing, multiple things can be (and often are true at once): - it is wrong that working adults on decent salaries are struggling to find homes they can afford to rent or buy. In London, and other places. - social housing has an important function in our society. - there are some people living in social housing who are not working who could / should be - and there is a conversation about how to support them that needs to be had - there are some (41 per cent on average) people living in social housing who are working and their communities are richer for them living there as a result of affordable housing - there are some people who cannot work, they are still important to their communities and may add value in other ways - that said, the designation “economically inactive” may cover people who are performing vital labour such a care work - we need to build more housing, research from multiple independent organisations suggests that a lot of it needs to be social housing and we may now need creative tenures to get people who cannot afford to buy at current prices but earn well into new homes (like shared ownership but less riddles with problems) - retired people - whether they are homeowners or social tenants - add value to their communities even after the stop working. This includes but is not limited to helping with childcare which means young parents can keep working. - but it is also true that some older people are living in homes that are too large for their needs and a younger family could benefit from the home being freed up This list could go on and on. Housing policy involves contradictions and difficult conversations. But, communities are richer if they are mixed and varied with people from across different ages, incomes and backgrounds. If you have a housing policy paper that you want me to cover, send it to me. Regardless of political affiliation or persuasion, I will always read and cover if the research has been conducted properly.

Daily reminder that YIMBYism is about the self-interest of well paid graduates, not solving the housing crisis for those stuck on waiting lists. Your value isn't based on your wage. Labour must reject this grotesque social cleansing nonsense and build 000s of council homes.

@DoomSpiralpod @Victoria_Spratt @s8mb @paintedspoken Actually inner London is defined by the GLA and lits of other people as the 12 inner boroughs: Camden Greenwich Hackney Hammersmith and Fulham Islington Kensington and Chelsea Lambeth Lewisham Southwark Tower Hamlets Wandsworth Westminster

@Victoria_Spratt @s8mb @paintedspoken Inner London is typically taken to mean zones 1 & 2, as Sam indicates by referring Chelsea and Camden. That's where the "hundreds of thousands" figure will be coming from.

A tweet by a prominent “YIMBY” argues against having social housing in some London boroughs because the homes could be lived in by more “economically productive” people… FYI 41 per cent of lead tenants in social housing are in work Others are carers or retired (and there are some who are out of work) It is not correct to say social housing tenants are economically unproductive - many do vital jobs which the Capital couldn’t function without

The last two years have been the worst ever for pollution by water companies, reports @adamvaughan_uk , despite the Government’s promise to clean up. When is it going to take a grip, and ensure prosecutions and jailing of criminally negligent bosses? thetimes.com/uk/environment…