Scottish housing secretary Mairi McAllan has targeted preventing “unacceptable” levels of empty homes in the country.
She that she was going to fund more empty homes officers to bring privately owned houses back into use.
McAllan said: “Bringing homes back into use is a vital part of our plan to tackle the housing emergency – when too many families are struggling to find somewhere to live, it is unacceptable to me that so many houses are lying empty for long periods.”
Officers work on the £2m a year Scottish government investment in the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership (SEHP).
This organisation seeks to identify empty homes and encourage owners to bring these properties onto the market. There are already empty homes officers across many Scottish councils, and the organisation has brought just under 11,000 homes to the market in the fifteen years since it was established.
Figures published by the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership (SEHP) stated that in 2023/24 there were 46,217 homes empty for six months in Scotland, but this figure falls to 28,280 for homes that have been vacant for more than a year.
Targeting empty and second homes are not the answer to Scottish housing shortages, according to Scotland’s largest letting and estate agency DJ Alexander.
David Alexander, the chief executive officer of DJ Alexander Scotland, said: “There is little doubt that regenerating and reviving homes which have been empty for a substantial period of time can be beneficial for an area.
“A property that is an eyesore in a village, town or city can only be improved by renovation.
“The concern is that by conflating the issue of the current housing shortage in Scotland with almost just over 28,000 homes empty for a year misses the point that even if all of these houses are put on the market immediately this will do little to alleviate the accumulated problems the country currently faces.
“In addition, a property being vacant for 12 months can mean almost nothing as this can be for multiple reasons as conceded by SEHP.”
The greatest number of homes empty for more than a year was in Highland which had 3,334, Edinburgh was next with 2,751, and Aberdeen had 2,615.
At the other end of the scale East Renfrewshire only had 62 vacant homes for six months and is not listed on the official statistics for longer than a year, presumably indicating there were none for the full year.
Clackmannanshire had 102 and East Dunbartonshire 220 vacant for more than 12 months.