empty homes still a problemOne factor that is often overlooked when discussing the UK's housing shortage is the number of homes standing unused around the country, and the Empty Homes Agency (EHA) has said that this amount is falling "very slowly".

This week (December 3rd to December 7th) marks the National Empty Homes Week of Action, with the EHA asking the public to bring long-term empty homes to their attention.

And despite research from Halifax showing that there was a six per cent fall in the number of long-term empty homes in the ten years to 2006, the EHA has said that improvements are only incremental.

"In terms of trends, the figures have been coming down very slowly," said EHA chief executive David Ireland.

"In England, for instance, the number of empty homes peaked in 1992 or 1993 when there were just over 800,000 and they are now down to 663,000.

"Long-term empty homes have declined much less. They have been more steady. There was just over 300,000 in the early nineties and now there are just under 300,000," Mr Ireland revealed.

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