Funding will be increased to bring more empty homes onto the housing market

Scotland’s housing minister says he is committed to doubling the funding available to bring empty homes back into use.

Campaigners, spearheaded by the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership (SEHP), see dormant properties as a way to partialy alleviate the country’s housing crisis.

At its annual conference held in Glasgow today Kevin Stewart, housing minster said: “The Scottish Empty Homes Partnership (SEHP) has been instrumental in bringing 2,840 empty homes back into use since 2010.

“Everyone in Scotland should have a safe and warm place to call home which is why the Scottish Government has doubled the funding for the SEHP to more than £400,000.”

The SEHP, working with a network of 21 empty homes officers it has built up in Scottish local authorities, has so far helped bring 2,840 homes back into use with an estimated market value of £425 million.

There are around 34,000 more empty homes in Scotland which are worth £5 billion at today’s average house price.

Shaheena Din, SEHP national manager, said: “Doubling the funding for empty homes work in Scotland is fantastic news and high recognition of the work of empty homes officers and their success at bringing empty homes back into use.

“It simply doesn’t make sense for people to leave a property sitting empty when it could be bringing in money for them and providing a home for someone who needs one.

“There is a lot of help available to make it possible for people to overcome obstacles that stand in the way of moving back into a property, letting it out or selling it.”