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Minister hails fall in number of empty homes

Friday, 9 December 2011 11:22 AM

The number of empty homes in England fell by the 21,000 in 2011, the biggest year-on-year drop since 2004.

Communities minister Andrew Stunell revealed the good news in a week that has seen the issue of empty homes highlighted on prime time TV in Channel 4's Property Scandal season.

The latest figures show there were 279,000 long-term empty homes, down from 300,000 in 2010. Long-term means empty for more than six months.

The number of homes vacant in the shorter and longer term fell 17,000 to 720,000.

In a visit to Redcar, Stunell said it was a top government priority to bring empty homes back into use and ensure they were available for people who need a new home.

He said councils, housing associations and voluntary groups could apply for a share of £100 million of government funding for empties and that the coalition was also consulting on plans to charge an empty homes premium on the council tax for homes left vacant for more than two years.

He said: "I'm encouraged that over the past year we've managed to reduce the numbers of empty homes by over 21,000. There's more work to do but with these measures firmly in place, I hope to see more progress next year."

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