GMB has called for London local authorities to be given powers to use vacant dwellings left empty for prolonged periods to house people on their housing waiting list.

This comes after a study by GMB compared the number of long-term vacant dwellings (those empty for at least six months) in each borough in 2018 and the number of households on London Local Authority housing waiting lists in the same year.

In 2018 London had a total of 22,481 long-term vacant dwellings, 2,244 more than the year before. At the same time, in 2018 there were 232,409 households on Local Authority housing waiting lists.

Warren Kenny, GMB Regional Secretary said: “Giving local councils the powers to use homes left empty for prolonged periods would help to cut the unacceptably high waiting lists across London. Bringing long term empty homes and flats back into use has to have a very high priority. Residential units above shops in particular can be left unoccupied for long periods and councils should be alert to the potential of such empty homes to cut waiting lists.

“Property owners, knowing that councils had such powers, would have a big incentive to keep properties occupied. It would also reduce the incentive for overseas investors investing in buy to leave empty.”