Empty Property Strategy 2019-24

Overview

Like most major cities in Britain Birmingham is faced with an acute and ongoing housing shortage.  This gives rise to increased homelessness and housing affordability problems for many people.

Empty properties seriously affect the lives of people in the vicinity and have an adverse impact, driving down values around the problematic property.  They attract vandalism and anti-social behaviour and are an unnecessary drain on public services.

Though empty property numbers have declined since Birmingham published its first proactive Empty Property Strategy in 2003 there are currently about 9,900 private sector empty homes in city.  Birmingham receives about 6,000 homeless applications a year and has a high need for affordable housing.  This strategy aims to bring more empty homes back into use providing good quality, affordable housing to meet that need.     

At a time when local government resources are decreasing it is vital we make best use of available resources.  The strategy and action plan that supports it outline how we propose to do this.   

Empty homes are not the whole answer to the current housing crisis but government and local authorities cannot ignore their potential and the need to ensure that owners are both encouraged and, where appropriate, required to unlock the potential of this wasted resource.   

The success Birmingham has had in tackling empty properties to date has been considerable.  We aim to continue this, to ensure the city has the largest, highest quality stock possible to accommodate both its existing and future citizens.  

The Empty Property Strategy 2019-24 supports and helps delivery the wider outcomes and priorities of the Council. These are detailed in the Council Plan 2018.