Glasgow City Council's Empty Homes project has now returned more than 3,000 long-term unoccupied properties to use as homes for individuals and families, marking a major success for the authority's Empty Homes Strategy.

According to the council, 94% of these properties have been transformed since the launch of the strategy in April 2019. The initiative comes at a crucial time, with the city currently experiencing a Housing Emergency and demand for quality accommodation continuing to rise.

The council said the strategy not only boosts available housing but also contributes to neighbourhood regeneration and helps prevent the deterioration of empty properties, which can become eyesores or targets for vandalism. Renovating existing empty homes is also significantly cheaper than new-build construction.

Empty homes are classed as privately owned residential properties left vacant for six months or longer, often due to issues such as repossession, deceased or untraceable owners, title complications or serious disrepair.

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The council's Empty Homes Strategy aims to:

• increase housing stock to meet demand;

• identify suitable accommodation for groups such as larger families, homeless households and people with support needs;

• provide advice to homeowners on bringing properties back into use;

• protect the interests of tenement owners and support common repairs;

• and tackle neighbourhood blight.

Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) are being used in cases where owners fail to engage with the council or cannot be traced. So far, 74 homes have been brought back into use through CPOs, with most allocated to housing associations for social rent.

Councillor Ruairi Kelly, Convener for Housing, Development and Land Use, said: "While the figure of 3,000 empty homes being brought back to life in Glasgow is a landmark figure, what is really important here is that thousands of people and families now have homes to stay in that they would otherwise not, and that city neighbourhoods are being improved. In saying that, there are still far too many empty homes in the city, so we will continue our work on what has been a very successful strategy so far and ask owners of empty homes to get in touch with the council to get assistance in selling for private sale or to local housing associations."

Around 3,000 privately owned homes in Glasgow remain empty, with roughly 2,000 vacant for more than a year. The council says reducing this number remains a key priority in its ongoing efforts to expand the city’s housing supply.