England’s 240,000 empty homes could provide shelter for the homeless this Christmas?

Research by London lettings and estate agent, Benham and Reeves, reveals that there are almost 240,000 vacant homes in England this Christmas which could, if the right authorities would enable it, provide immediate winter shelter for the nation’s homeless community.

As Christmas approaches, the majority of people will be looking forward to spending the festive period at home with their loved ones, but for thousands of people in England, this won’t be possible because they have no current home to speak of.

With so many people sleeping rough this winter, research by Benham & Reeves has revealed that there are 237,340 homes in England that are classed as long-term vacant – properties that have been continuously unoccupied for more than six months.

With an average English house price of £314,278, the estimated market value of these vacant properties sits at £74.6bn.

On a regional level, the largest number of long-term vacant homes are found in the North West where 40,738 properties are sat empty and have been for more than six months. With an average regional house price of £219,005, the combined value of these homes is £8.9bn.

In London, 32,818 homes are vacant. With an average price of £544,113, the value of these unoccupied homes is £17.9bn.

Meanwhile, there are 31,070 vacant homes in the South East which, at an average price of £403,515, are worth a combined £12.5bn.

The smallest number of long-term vacant homes are found in the North East (17,541), followed by the South West (19,946) and East Midlands (20,431).

When analysing the data at local authority level, Benham and Reeves reveals that Birmingham has the most vacant properties with 5,496 empty homes.

This is followed by Liverpool (4,880), County Durham (3,900), Bradford (3,526), and Sheffield (2,838).

Meanwhile, the fewest number of vacant homes are found in Spelthorne, Surrey, where there are just 56 properties, followed by Wyre, Lancashire (82), West Devon (84), Crawley (90), and Bracknell Forest (115).

In terms of total market value, nowhere is the cumulative worth of long-term vacant homes more than in Kensington and Chelsea where 1,539 properties have a combined value of £2.1bn.

Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, says:

“The number of long-term vacant homes in England is quite extraordinary and fairly evenly spread across the country. The combined value of these homes is, of course, hard to ignore, but it’s more striking to consider what a waste of warmth and shelter they are at a time when so many are going to be sleeping rough this Christmas.

Homeless shelters frequently struggle to meet demand and charities can only provide assistance to a limited number of people each night. Local councils, who somehow have no legal obligation to help even when night temperatures drop below freezing, should be proactively working with landlords and property owners in their area to make these properties temporarily available to house rough sleepers at this time of year when weather conditions pose a genuine threat to life.”

House price data sourced from UK House Price Index
Number of long-term vacant properties data sourced from gov.uk