Bringing empty homes back into use - approaches and interventions: evidence scoping review

5. Impact of empty homes

The literature on empty homes identified various issues that they related to empty homes, which intersect and combine to impact on an area, including:

• an increase in anti-social behaviour
• repair issues to neighbouring properties
• a reduction in property values
• fly-tipping

A number of the studies within the literature referred to empty homes as a "blight" on the local area, making people reluctant to move there and often causing the value of surrounding properties to decline (Scottish Government 2019; National Assembly for Wales 2019; Davies 2014; Action on Empty Homes 2019). Where concentrations of empty homes exist, fly-tipping and anti-social or criminal behaviour can become more common, making the area unattractive to prospective buyers (Scottish Government 2019). Moreover, damage to neighbouring properties can also occur when empty homes fall into disrepair, increasing the risk of, for example, water ingress (Scottish Government 2019) or damp (National Assembly for Wales 2019) as well as environmental issues such as vermin and pest infestations (National Assembly for Wales 2019).

Three studies referred to the wider impacts of empty homes on an area, in terms of demographics and adverse effects on the housing market (For figures and further trend analysis on empty homes, please see Scottish Government 2023) (Scottish Government 2019; National Assembly for Wales; Davies 2014). De-population (which may be attributable to empty homes, or for which empty homes may be a symptom) may lead to a decline in amenities and infrastructure, discouraging people from moving to the area when they cannot access services or schools (Scottish Government 2019). A large number of long-term empty homes can also restrict the types of accommodation available by limiting the number of properties available in local housing markets. Long-term trends concerning an ageing population and the increase of single person households alter demand for certain property types and impact on the suitability of existing housing stock (Seirin-Lee et al 2018). Some evidence indicates that a narrower range of properties can disproportionately affect younger people looking to buy and older people requiring adapted housing (Scottish Government 2019). Without suitable accommodation, households may move away and a lack of amenities can result in health and social issues for those that remain (Scottish Government 2019; Action on Empty Homes 2019).

Alongside depreciating property values, long-term empty homes may also have wider financial implications for an area, where loss of rental income, Council Tax revenue (in the cases of those Councils which still apply a discount rate; 50% discount is the default set in regulations but Councils have discretion to reduce the discount or charge a premium) and spending by occupiers results in less money that is re-invested back into the area (Scottish Government 2019). A higher number of empty homes may also mean fewer customers for businesses, resulting in less revenue and increasing the risk of businesses closing down or their re-location to a more profitable area (Scottish Government 2019).

In addition to this, there are environmental impacts related to empty housing stock. Empty homes occupy land which is blocked from use, consume energy and create emissions (for example heat used to stop pipes from freezing in winter conditions and avoid the risk of water damage and further disrepair), and have unused natural resources, building components and materials embedded in them (Huuhka 2016).