In Empty Homes Week, Lloyds Banking Group is calling on the government to develop a National Empty Homes Initiative to bring more long-term empty properties back into use:

Lloyds managing director of housing David Cleary said: “We have a chronic shortage of affordable, sustainable, and high-quality housing in the UK today. Lloyds Banking Group has partnered with Crisis and is jointly calling for one million more homes for social rent over the next decade to help overcome the shortage that is leaving hundreds of thousands of people trapped in homelessness”.

He added “Repurposing empty homes into genuinely affordable homes for social rent could be part of the solution. We believe that the government should develop a National Empty Homes Initiative to bring more long-term empty properties back into use.”

Nearly a quarter of a million residential properties in England are empty, rising 24% since 2016. The issue is widespread.

Lloyds Banking Group believes greater investment and support to repurpose long-term empty properties into genuinely affordable homes could be part of the solution in the short-term for struggling councils. The aim of the initiative should be to create a framework that facilitates and supports a proactive approach to bring more long-term empty properties back into use for preventing and ending homelessness.