The latest scandalous housing figures were published this week: 7,500 council homes are currently sitting empty. Meanwhile there are 344,000 households on the waiting list.
In total there are 57,000 empty properties in the capital, including those privately owned. More than a third of these have been unoccupied for more than six months. This is insulting to anyone struggling to find a place to live, whether by renting, buying, or via the council.
So how do we solve the problem of empty homes?
With the snappily named order Edmos. It stands for 'empty dwelling management orders'. The idea is that local councils temporarily take possession of empty properties and work with their owners to get them back up to living standards. The measure was introduced in 2004 to take over properties that had been lying empty for over six months, however successive governments changed it to two years. Perhaps the new mayor will reinstate a more reasonable time frame.
By overhauling the buy-to-let system. The government could give tax breaks and other financial aid to help potential landlords buy empty homes and do them up. Then they could be put on the rental market at affordable rates. And affordable isn't 80% of market prices, but truly reasonable rates that are still profitable to landlords.
By penalising owners of empty homes. In 2012 a law called the Empty Homes Premium was introduced, which charges home owners 50% more council tax if they leave a property empty for over two years. But in practice this has only been applied to 5.5% of properties. This should be enforced so that owners who don't want to pay the charge can rent their homes at reasonable prices. If they can afford to leave their home vacant, surely they can provide cheap rent.
What do you think should be done with empty properties? Leave us a comment on Twitter, Google+ or Facebook.
Figures are according to the Empty Homes charity and the Department of Communities and Local Government.
