Why Empty Homes Matter (2022)
How bringing empty homes back to use can contribute to delivering the vision and principles in Housing to 2040
Empty homes have an important role to play in helping to deliver the right homes, in the right places for people in Scotland. The Scottish Government has published Housing to 2040. It sets out an ambitious vision of what housing should look like by 2040 and a plan of how to achieve this vision. Bringing empty homes back into use will help deliver on all four parts of this plan;
More homes at the heart of great places
Bringing empty homes back to use can help to meet the demand for affordable homes in our most densely populated towns and cities. It can also help to revive and revitalise town centres, villages and rural communities that have seen population decline, helping to once more make them great places that people are proud to call home.
Affordability and choice
By bringing empty homes back to use, alongside delivering on the ambitious government commitment to provide an additional 110,000 affordable homes over the next ten years, of which 70% must be social homes, local authorities can make full use of the housing resources at their disposal. This will ensure that there is the widest possible range of types and tenures of homes available to all, irrespective of which part of the country or council they live in.
Affordable warmth and zero emissions homes
Bringing empty homes back in to use can help to drive down the carbon emissions caused by housing and housing construction. Where the home is retrofitted to improve energy performance, it can also help to drive down the cost of heating and reduce the operational carbon emitted.
Improving the quality of all homes
Every empty home has been a home for someone in the past, and could potentially be a home for someone again in the future. By working to support renovation of suitable empty homes and returning these homes back to use, local authorities can help to breathe new life into old homes, improving the quality of housing stock and improving the quality of life in the communities with empty stock.
12 pages
Further information
- Scottish Empty Homes Partnership
- Scottish Government Policy – Empty Homes
- Spice Spotlight –Empty homes in Scotland: facts, figures and policy (Nov 24)
Updated 09.04.25
