use our grey power to force real affordable, safe houses to be built whoch won't kill our planet but actually save it!!

The government report is on houses empty for six months or more.
The Libdem is ten years or more. I am not surprised that there are more in the North East, particularly Durham, as there are no jobs up here, whole run down villages still.

There must have been a report on the 11,000 homes Jen as there are articles in the Telegraph and Mail too.

They seem to be mainly in the North so may not be second homes but rather in areas where no investment to create jobs. We need that so we can relieve some of the over-populated areas too.

When my husband was still designing housing in 1990s, all the houses he designed were suitable for wheelchair users.
At the time all were supposed to be wheelchair friendly.
No idea what happened to that idea, and the idea that all newhouses were supposed to be suitable for families from cradle to grave. That's when they started having an even smaller footprint and building three storeys on most of them.

Sounds like Scotland is well ahead of the rest of the UK.

Several hundred new (social) houses being built here too.
In a recent rent survey, existing tenants voted for an increase in rents of £1.5m in order to improve/ provide homes accessible for wheelchair users.

We have a new initiative to build Scandinavian style wooden houses using our vast forestry land,replanting with new faster growing varieties so the stock of wood is always available ,to date the Holyrood government has provided 70.000 affordable homes though only 8000 of those are council housing ,most are HA or part ownership properties.I can personally confirm that well over 200 new homes have been made available for rent in my area in the past few months with another 150 due for completion by spring.Homelessnes is NOT a necessary evil,there will be people who wont/cant live under a roof and have mental health issues so the problem may never be completely solved but it seems a shorter waiting time for housing in my part of Scotland is now possible

Note that it took the libdems to do the research through FOI. The government didn't, although paying lip service to homelessness.

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/01/over-11000-homes-have-stood-empty-for-at-least-10-years-data-shows

Perhaps the English councils should take notice of the Scots.
On the other hand there are a lot of English MPs who are landlords, and possibly do not want any more houses on the market to rent, as it will mean competition for them.

Hi paddyann. Why do the Scotts lead on so many sensible fronts (eg thinking of minimum price per unit of alcohol)?. The Budget is talking of double council tax on empty property, too. I know of a dilapidated house which harbours rats and all sorts right in the middle of our nice village which has been empty for at least 15 years. I've tried to get the council to CPO or let someone renovate (there are charities that will do them up and make them liveable for those on a council waiting list if owners cant be bothered or cant be found). It's time we stopped viewing land and houses as commodities that turnover a hefty profit.

councils in Scotland who DONT use the funding for housing will have it taken off them and it will be given to councils who ARE using it as intended.Council tax is DOUBLE on empty properties ,that gives incentive to sell or let rather than leave empty for any length of time.The Holyrood government is on target with new builds ..lots of housing association builds in my area and refubs of older stock .