Repurposing Empty Spaces - Addressing the Housing Crisis Across England, Scotland and Wales in 2025

Resource overview

Habitat for Humanity Great Britain (HfHGB) commissioned The Empty Homes Network to produce the report “Repurposing Empty Spaces: Addressing the Housing Crisis Across England, Scotland and Wales in 2025”. The study examines how vacant and underused non-residential buildings—especially those owned by local authorities—can be converted into genuinely affordable and social housing, linking housing delivery to regeneration and climate goals.

Housing need and homelessness data

The report summarises rising housing pressure across Great Britain. In England, main homelessness duty decisions increased from 62,490 (2021) to 94,280 (2025), and households in temporary accommodation rose from 98,300 to 126,040 by March 2025. Scotland’s main homelessness duty decisions rose from 31,335 to 40,685, with temporary accommodation increasing from 11,665 to 16,330. Wales saw main homelessness decisions rise from 7,731 to 13,539, while temporary accommodation increased from 2,324 to 6,447.

Supply constraints and affordability pressures

New social and affordable supply is presented as insufficient relative to need. In England, housing association completions rose slightly from 32,330 (2021) to 35,320 (2025), while local authority completions increased from 1,810 to 2,850, alongside a sharp rise in authorities recording zero completions (from 39 to 274). Scotland’s housing association completions fell from 4,204 to 3,378, while local authority completions rose from 1,465 to 1,715. Wales’ housing association completions declined from 1,019 to 983, while local authority completions rose from 12 to 168.

Scale of vacant public assets and conversion potential

Using FOI data, the report estimates vacant local authority-owned properties increased from 6,324 (2021) to 8,242 (2025). It applies conversion benchmarks from earlier research (average 9 homes per office conversion and 1.5 homes per retail conversion) to estimate that converting vacant local authority-owned office and retail space across England, Scotland and Wales could deliver about 25,344 accommodation units in 2025, up from roughly 19,500 in 2021.

Wider vacancy context and empty homes indicators

Beyond non-residential assets, the report reviews empty homes and second homes. England’s long-term empty homes fell slightly from 278,470 (2021) to 272,080 (2025), while properties charged an Empty Homes Premium increased from 69,201 to 119,606. Scotland’s long-term empty homes decreased from 47,333 to 43,538. Wales’ long-term empty homes decreased from 24,671 to 22,558, while its Empty Homes Premium count increased from 4,601 to 13,220.

Recommendations and policy direction

The report calls for a national strategy that treats vacant commercial premises as a cross-cutting opportunity spanning housing, planning, economic development and climate objectives. Key proposals include creating a standardised national dataset on publicly owned vacant property (including vacancy duration, ownership and former use), improving data transparency on publicly owned estates, embedding reuse into asset management, and establishing long-term funding mechanisms for conversion and retrofit. The report frames adaptive reuse as a practical route to create homes faster than new build, reduce demolition waste and embodied carbon, and support place-based regeneration in town centres and communities.