There are currently over 238,000 long-term empty homes in England. This number has risen by 20% since 2016, and these properties could be used to house the 1 million households waiting for social housing.
Across England, an average of one in fifty homes are out of use. For some local councils – especially London boroughs and rural areas – this fraction is significantly higher.
| Area | Homes out of use |
| City of London | 1 in 4 |
| Kensington and Chelsea | 1 in 9 |
| Cornwall | 1 in 18 |
| Derbyshire Dales | 1 in 23 |
| Manchester | 1 in 30 |
| Blackpool | 1 in 35 |
| Birmingham | 1 in 65 |
| Bracknell Forest | 1 in 458 - lowest in the country |
How many empty homes are there in the UK, The Big Issue
Bringing empty homes back into use is key to tackling the housing crisis, with the renovation of homes also having a significant impact on reaching net zero goals. But moving into a new household isn’t straightforward; there are various checks, surveys, and repairs that cause delays.
Social housing providers must ensure inspections are carried out before any new tenants move in, as well as any repairs and renovations. Safety considerations, including cladding, asbestos, gas, electrics, fire safety, and community safety, all need to be checked, and even once this has all been carried out, organising when to exchange keys can add a few extra days, or even weeks, onto the timeline. With such a high number of empty properties and a long list of safety inspections, it’s no wonder housing associations struggle to fill empty properties at a fast rate.
Building safety is a high priority for many social housing providers, and with the new Fire Safety Bill, buildings of both high and low risk are now affected by regulations. Multiple risk assessments and inspections are required, and those assessing properties (either an in-house team or third party) require a cloud-based, easy-to-use platform to record findings. A PowerApp can be used to improve the efficiency of safety assessments, allowing staff to record and submit findings remotely, all in one place.
Similarly, pre-void inspections can be streamlined using a mobile app and an automated scheduler. Inspections can be submitted whilst on site so any repairs or renovations can be scheduled straight away to get the ball rolling. By removing any human involvement in the scheduling process, repairs can take place more quickly – allowing the property to be filled even more quickly.
There’s no point in streamlining processes without an effective way to measure progress. This is where Power BI comes in: it can generate void data reports detailing key metrics, such as average void times, and why they are shorter/longer. Reporting and analytics are key to improvement, so this stage is a key part of the process.
While turning empty properties around faster helps house local residents more quickly, it also significantly reduces costs for housing associations. By reducing lost rental income, housing providers can gain financially, allowing them to invest in additional properties to provide more housing for residents. Accelerating voids is just one aspect of Crimson's mission to help social housing providers deliver greater public impact through Microsoft and AI.
“Each development of 10 affordable homes can create 26 jobs, generate £250k for the government, and provide a £1.4m boost to help level up disadvantaged local economies.” - CPRE