A Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed that Ealing has the second most empty council homes in London with around 1,043 properties not housing people as of summer 2024.
During August 2024, Labour-run Ealing Council responded to the FOI request and said: “There are currently 1,043 void properties (including 338 standard voids, 50 TA voids, 31 regen TA voids, 600 regen voids, 15 long term voids, 5 operational buildings voids).”
In explaining the reasons for the homes being vacant, Ealing Council said:
“Reasons for vacancy are as follows:
• Standard voids – properties awaiting minor repairs
• Temporary Accommodation voids – properties awaiting minor repairs before
re-letting as temporary accommodation for homeless households
• Temporary Accommodation Regeneration voids – properties previously
earmarked for regeneration projects awaiting minor repairs before letting as
temporary accommodation for homeless households
• Regeneration voids – properties previously earmarked for regeneration
projects awaiting minor repairs
• Long-term voids – properties requiring major works before letting
• Operational buildings – e.g. void properties used for operational purposes.”
Southwark has the highest in London with 1,556 council homes being empty and neighbouring borough Brent comes in at number 8 with 562 vacant council homes.
The numbers were number crunched by unoccupied house insurance specialists Alan Boswell Group which revealed in total 9,376 council homes are vacant in the capital with 335,035 Londoners on waiting lists.
Heath Alexander-Bew, director at Alan Boswell Group said: “Whilst unoccupied properties in the UK have fallen, we still have over 9,000 vacant council homes in London and 330,000 people on waiting lists. This highlights a significant property management challenge.
“Many vacant properties remain unoccupied due to disrepair, administrative delays, or redevelopment plans, but these homes represent a missed opportunity to house people in need.”
Leader of Ealing Liberal Democrats, Councillor Gary Malcolm told EALING.NEWS of his concerns. He said: “For years Ealing Labour have left huge numbers of empty homes in disrepair when tenants urgently need housing. Lib Dems have said the Council should act faster to help more people and their families get safe and secure housing.”
Speaking to EALING.NEWS regarding the scale of empty council homes across Ealing, an Ealing Council spokesperson said: “The number of empty council homes fluctuates daily. In total, as of today (19 December 2024), we have 297 empty homes. Of these, 193 are undergoing repairs to bring them to a good standard and 22 of them are ready and in the process of being re-let.
“Like most social landlords, we are still tackling a backlog of repairs which built up in the pandemic, and we were also affected by poor performance from a former repairs contractor.
“We have now taken on two new repairs contractors, with both companies now working to get those empty homes back into lettable condition as quickly as possible. We are currently returning about 20 properties a week to the lettings process, and we hope to have returned the bulk of the ones currently being repaired by the end of the financial year.
“We have a further 16 homes with long term repairs issues which cannot be easily resolved.
“An additional 483 council homes have been decanted so that they can be demolished and replaced with modern, energy-efficient, genuinely affordable homes to let. Secure council tenants whose homes are demolished on regen estates are usually offered the chance to move into a new home on the rebuilt estate. Some of these decanted homes are still habitable and we have a project underway, aiming to let 97 of these to temporary accommodation tenants until the blocks get demolished.”
 request has revealed that Ealing has the second most empty council homes in London with around 1,043 properties not housing people as of summer 2024.){kind=link}