Council Housing: Empty Property

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar of 1 July 2008, Official Report, column 791W, on housing: empty property, what proportion of the dwellings in each Government Office region were empty public sector dwellings in both years. (222885)

The term public sector has been interpreted to mean “social rented” dwellings, i.e. local authority and registered social landlord owned dwellings.

The following tables show the level of social rented vacancies against the level of total vacancies in both 2006 and 2007. These tables show all vacancies, both long and short term.

*Dwelling vacancies in 2006 (long and short term vacancies)*
	Total empty domestic dwellings as at 9 October 2006¹	Local authority vacancies as at 1 April 2006²	Registered social landlord vacancies as at 31 March 2006³	Total social vacancies	Percentage of total vacancies that are social rent
NE	48,287	4,340	3,236	7,576	16
NW	136,783	6,295	7,947	14,242	10
YH	90,947	6,142	2,882	9,024	10
EM	65,495	4,294	1,244	5,538	8
WM	79,208	3,923	4,550	8,473	11
E	68,485	3,105	1,868	4,973	7
L	86,701	10,107	4,405	14,512	17
SE	102,812	2,780	2,471	5,251	5
SW	69,441	1,887	1,567	3,454	5
England	748,159	42,873	30,170	73,043	10

*Dwelling vacancies in 2007 (long and short term vacancies)*
	Total empty domestic dwellings as at 8 October 2007¹	Local authority vacancies as at 1 April 2007²	Registered social landlord vacancies as at 31 March 2007³	Total social vacancies	Percentage of total vacancies that are social rent
NE	48,066	4,311	3,126	7,437	15
NW	141,060	6,441	7,822	14,263	10
YH	101,035	5,777	3,673	9,450	9
EM	69,805	3,962	987	4,949	7
WM	80,359	3,208	4,532	7,740	10
E	69,072	2,496	1,766	4,262	6
L	84,596	9,846	4,651	14,497	17
SE	101,761	3,075	2,602	5,677	6
SW	66,881	1,847	1,614	3,461	5
England	762,635	40,963	30,773	71,736	9
¹ Council Taxbase and Council Taxbase Supplementary (CTB1 and CTB1S) returns from local authorities. Figures are reported as at October in each year. ² Local authority vacancies reported by local authorities to Communities and Local Government through the Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA). Figures are reported as at 1 April in each year. ³ Registered social landlord vacancies as reported by registered social landlords to the Housing Corporation through the Regulatory Statistical Return. Figures are reported as at 31 March in each year.

Volume 480: debated on Wednesday 8 October 2008