Why focusing on ‘empty homes’ is a convenient distraction for ministers

This will involve employing more empty homes officers as part of the £2m a year Scottish Government investment in the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership (SEHP). This organisation encourages private homeowners to return privately-owned vacant homes to the market and has recovered just under 11,000 homes in the 15 years since it was established.

But can this really be a “vital” part of resolving Scotland’s housing emergency? SEHP’s own statistics show that in 2023/24 there were only 28,280 for homes that had been empty for more than a year.

Another favourite argument is that second home ownership is part of the housing problem. However, the latest Scottish Government figures show that there are now just 21,606 second homes in Scotland (one per cent of the total) which is a ten per cent year-on-year fall in 2024 and the largest drop in numbers in a decade.

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. The concern is that by conflating the issue of the current housing shortage in Scotland with 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 housing shortages the country currently faces.

Also, a property vacant for 12 months or more can be for completely understandable reasons. Estates can take a long time to be satisfied; people may be working abroad; they may be in hospital; in a care home; travelling; retired; living elsewhere with relatives or a whole host of other reasons which result in a property being left empty for a prolonged period of time.

The concern is that focusing on empty and second homes is a distraction from the larger issue of the need to build more houses in the social and private sectors.

While the aims of the SEHP may be laudable, this is not the solution to the current housing emergency. The answer is to increase the volume of new homebuilding which would resolve our current housing issues long before reducing the number of empty and second homes and holiday lets would make a small dent in the overall shortages. These are sticking plaster solutions to a gaping wound problem.

The crucial factor is that reducing the number of empty and second homes gives the appearance of a government doing something without it costing very much. These are policies which look as if they are the answer to housing needs, but they are a distraction from the need to address our current low housebuilding levels. Only by increasing homebuilding will we start to see a reduction in the high number of people seeking to buy or rent a home in the future.