Empty Homes and Homelessness: A Winter Wake-Up Call
As winter’s chill sets in across the UK, the reality of homelessness becomes all the more urgent. Cold nights, rising energy bills, and limited accommodation combine to make this season especially harsh for people without stable homes. Yet at the same time, there remain hundreds of thousands of empty dwellings across the country. The paradox is stark.
The Scale of the Problem
Homelessness continues to rise across the UK. The Office for National Statistics reports that homelessness remains a major issue across all four nations, highlighting the growing pressure on councils and housing services. Meanwhile, research by Shelter found that at least 354,000 people in England are currently homeless, including 161,500 children — a staggering 14% rise in just one year. Supporting this, Homeless Link revealed that in 2023–24, 358,370 households in England were assessed for homelessness duties, up more than 10% on the previous year.
At the same time, thousands of properties across the UK are lying empty. According to Action on Empty Homes, there are now around 998,784 vacant homes in England, with 265,061 standing empty for more than six months. The 2021 Census also found that 1.5 million dwellings were unoccupied on Census day — roughly 6.1% of all homes — with nearly 90% confirmed as genuinely vacant rather than used as second homes. Even parliamentary data supports this worrying trend: the House of Commons Library reported that in October 2022, there were 676,304 recorded empty homes in England, including 248,149 long-term vacancies.
These numbers paint a sobering picture. While homelessness continues to rise, nearly a million homes stand unused — a missed opportunity to provide warmth and safety to people who need it most.
Why the Winter Matters
Winter magnifies the dangers of homelessness in ways no other season does. Sleeping rough or living in temporary accommodation during freezing conditions increases the risk of hypothermia, respiratory illness, and even death. Health services and councils face enormous pressure as cold weather drives up hospital admissions and emergency interventions. Rising energy prices also make things worse, leaving many struggling to afford heat or even basic shelter.
The contrast between people sleeping outside and thousands of empty homes gathering frost is deeply unsettling. Each vacant property is not just a statistic — it’s a potential refuge that could protect someone from the cold. Winter should be a time for community, safety, and care, not survival. With better coordination and smarter use of existing housing stock, this could change.
How Empty Homes Could Make a Difference
Repurposing empty homes could be one of the fastest and most sustainable ways to reduce homelessness. These buildings already exist — they simply need to be identified, restored, and reconnected to the housing system. If many of the long-term vacant homes in England were brought back into use, they could provide safe, warm spaces for thousands of people this winter.
Research from Property Investments UK estimates that if 272,000 long-term vacant properties were reoccupied, that could house more than 650,000 people — assuming an average household size of 2.4. Beyond helping individuals and families, putting empty homes back into use would also relieve pressure on councils, reduce the cost of temporary accommodation, and revitalise neighbourhoods blighted by disuse.
Reusing empty homes isn’t just a housing strategy; it’s a moral and social imperative. Every home that’s brought back into use represents stability, dignity, and community renewal.
Introducing Occupid.com by Marks Out Of Tenancy
Our data tool can help to bridge this gap. Occupid.com is designed to discover empty homes and help organisations connect them with the people who need them most, using technology to make housing reuse faster and more efficient.
Through Occupid, we can uncover empty homes making them visible to councils, charities, and housing providers looking for potential accommodation. By combining data transparency with social purpose, Occupid.com is helping to turn empty houses into homes — especially when it matters most, in the depths of winter.
Final Thoughts
This winter, as the nights grow longer and colder, the human cost of homelessness continues to climb. Yet the resources to solve it already exist — in the form of hundreds of thousands of empty homes waiting to be lived in again.
With tools like Occupid.com by Marks Out Of Tenancy leading the way, we have the opportunity to turn these empty spaces into warm, safe homes. It’s time to connect compassion with action, and make sure no one is left out in the cold.
If you’d like to find out more about how Occupid can help identify and repurpose empty homes in your area, get in touch with the team today. Whether you’re a local authority, housing organisation or organisation, we’d love to show you how technology and collaboration can help make sure every home counts this winter.