Did you know that Empty Homes Week starts on November 26th? It is a real scandal that when so many people want a home to live in, the previous Labour government let numbers of empty homes rocket upwards.

Thanks to Lib Dem pressure the government has been working hard on turning this round and filling empty homes. Lib Dem Andrew Stunell MP announced earlier this year that £160 million was being put towards this goal. This included £70m allocated to bring empty homes back into use as affordable housing and £60m for local authorities to do this, as well as £30m for community groups or voluntary organisations leading local schemes.

In September 2012, the Government announced it would bring a further 5,000 empty homes back into use. The number of empty properties has fallen from a high of 783,119 under Labour to 709,426 under the current government. A lot still to do but Lib Dem action in government is tackling Labour’s neglect.

The government also announced in September 2012 that local authorities had brought nearly 38,000 long term empty homes back into use over the past two years through the New Homes Bonus Scheme. Under the scheme, where local authorities build new homes or convert empty properties back into use, the Government match-funds the additional council tax raised, with an additional amount for affordable homes, for the following six years. In this way, £63m additional funding has been released for local communities thanks to Lib Dems within Government working hard.

And the Government is now allowing councils to charge the full amount of Council Tax on empty homes – with an extra 50% premium for homes left empty for more than 2 years.

Do you know of an empty home in Headington Ward? You can let us know by clicking on Report a problem  in the top right corner of the screen and we will work together to put pressure on the council and try and fill them!