Scotland to blitz on empty homes
Shelter Scotland has secured £55,000 every year for the next two years to tackle the problem of empty homes in the country.
Money from the Scottish Government will pay for an empty homes co-ordinator, who will visit councils across Scotland to advise them on how to deal with the problem.
Kristen Miller will regularly meet and consult representatives from organisations including the Scottish Government, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, Shelter Scotland and Rural Housing Scotland.
Ms Miller has been in place since June but the national launch of the initiative will take place next month.
Gordon MacRae, head of communication and policy at Shelter Scotland, said: ‘There are 50,000 empty private sector homes in Scotland and while there can be many reasons why a property sits empty, at a time when there is less money to build new homes we must make better use of existing housing stock.
‘For an owner, an empty house can represent unrealised potential and income. However, owners may have concerns about becoming a landlord or be unaware of the potential income they could achieve through filling their property or selling it on.’
Ms Miller, who has been seconded from Cosla – where she was a policy officer leading on climate change and poverty - will provide councils across Scotland with information and support on private sector empty homes work.
She will also promote the importance of tackling the problem and make recommendations about the development of policy measures or guidance.
Figures from Shelter Scotland show on 31 March last year there were 9,120 vacant local authority homes.
Picture credit: Tim Foster
