Unsustainable status quo : a new approach to understanding inaction in empty home ownership in the north west of England

Butler, DE; Hughes, J

Abstract

The UK is in the midst of a national housing crisis. Estimates show that by 2022 there will be a shortage of 1.1 million homes (JRF, 2011).Meanwhile, figures report that in 2014 there were over 600,000 empty homes in England (Empty Homes Network, 2014). In the North West, there are currently 25,000 long term empty homes. If returned back to use, these properties could house one quarter of the families currently on the social housing waiting list (McCourt, 2013). This chapter explores the context of empty home ownership in the UK, while presenting some of the key findings from research completed by the Sustainable Housing & Urban a Studies Unit in partnership with Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council. Fieldwork was undertaken across two research projects: in the first project eleven in-depth interviews with empty homeowners were carried out; the second project analysed data collected from two focus groups conducted with a total of twelve participants who attended an empty homes event.

Citation

Butler, D., & Hughes, J. (2015). Unsustainable status quo : a new approach to understanding inaction in empty home ownership in the north west of England. In J. Condie, & A. Cooper (Eds.), Dialogues of Sustainable Urbanisation : Social Science Research and Transitions to Urban Contexts (106-110). University of Western Sydney

• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Jun 1, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 1, 2017
• Pages: 106-110
• Book Title: Dialogues of Sustainable Urbanisation : Social Science Research and Transitions to Urban Contexts
• ISBN: 9781741083606
• Publisher URL: http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/uws:30908