MORE than 1,000 properties are sitting empty in Warrington each year, while households in the area continue to be faced with homelessness, figures show.

Campaigners say abandoned dwellings should be repurposed to tackle England's housing crisis, after councils across the country recorded hundreds of thousands of empty homes.

Figures from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities show there were at least 1,060 empty properties in Warrington at the most recent count in October.

However, this was down eight per cent from 1,155 last year.

Of those, 682 had been gathering dust for six months or more, and at least 167 had been abandoned for more than two years.

The figures, which cover properties subject to council tax, also show 478 dwellings in the area were listed as second homes last month.

Different DLUHC figures show that in 2020-21, 1,796 households in Warrington were entitled to council support after becoming homeless or at risk of homelessness.

The Local Government Association has called on the Government to give local authorities greater powers to acquire empty homes.

A spokesman for the LGA, which represents councils, said: “At a time when we face a chronic housing shortage across the country and high levels of homelessness, it is wrong for so many homes to be left empty."

Across England, the number of empty homes – dwellings that are unoccupied and unfurnished – fell by two per cent to 468,000.

Owners of properties which have laid empty for two years or more can be charged an extra 100 per cent council tax on top of their bill – rising to as much as 300 per cent if the home has been empty for a decade or longer.

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Polly Neate, chief executive of housing charity Shelter, said the country's housing emergency is ruining lives, adding that it was deeply frustrating to see properties sitting empty ‘when so many people are in desperate need of a safe and secure home’.

She said more should be done to put empty homes back into use, but added: “Even if we filled every one of these empty properties, we still would not have solved the chronic housing shortage we face.

“The only way to solve the housing crisis is to build a new generation of green social housing.”

A Government spokesman said more than 243,000 new homes were delivered last year, with £12billion being invested in affordable housing over five years.

They said the number of empty homes had fallen by 30,000 since 2010, adding: “We have taken significant action to prevent empty homes.

“This includes giving councils stronger powers to increase council tax on empty homes and take over their management, and introducing higher rates of stamp duty and tightening tax rules for second homes.”