Whilst demand for housing is growing, rents increasing year on year, and housing waiting lists continue to rise, it is vital that there are further resources made available to ensure empty homes are brought back into use.

Given the smaller carbon cost of refurbishing an existing home compared to building a new one, this will deliver environmental benefits to our communities, too.

Addressing empty homes and their repair issues is part of a wider response to the Climate Emergency. In our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we can promote energy efficiency improvements when empty homes are brought back into use.

Many empty homes are a blight on our neighbourhoods by becoming eyesores. There can be a wide range of problems from overgrown gardens, flaking windows and cracked roof tiles, as well as rubbish from flytipping and moss on drainpipes.

Acting as a magnet for anti-social behaviour, the longer that a home is left empty, the more likely it is to attract vandalism or vermin inside, reducing its value and adding to the cost for any owner before they can return it to productive use.

There are three Empty Homes Officers working across Glasgow’s communities. They are reaching out to and supporting multiple owners of empty properties that have been vacant for six months or more.

By supporting the work of Empty Homes Officers, we can encourage owners to tackle poor property conditions and make their buildings available as much-need homes for families.

We can support Empty Homes Officers to collaborate across council departments including planning, environmental health and council tax to ensure that there are improved, coordinated efforts to reduce the number of empty homes in Glasgow.

Whilst councils can use Compulsory Purchase Order powers to bring an empty home back into use, there is also a need to support calls for Compulsory Sale and Compulsory Rental Order powers. This is so that there are more options if an empty home is causing a significant blight on a community and cannot be brought back into use with any other approach.

Housing has a fundamental impact on people’s lives across Glasgow. The maintenance of good quality housing stock is significant to our city’s economy, the promotion of individual health and wellbeing, as well as important for public safety.

We need to attract and retain investment in our existing housing stock to support the sustainability of our town centres and the development of our local neighbourhoods. Action on empty homes can help support local construction sectors, create jobs and support supply chains.

Bringing empty homes back into use can be supported as a cost-effective way to increase our city’s housing supply. We have to ensure that where possible, there are empty homes refurbished as affordable or social rented properties. These homes are able to offer value for money and contribute to unlocking housing to meet the needs of our most vulnerable residents.

Councils are helping to highlight the issue of empty homes and facilitate more action being taken. We can all encourage more owners to seek help with their empty properties.