Skip to main content
Councils bring just 1% of empty houses back in use

SOME 23,303 private properties were empty in Wales in 2016-17, with councils bringing less than 1 per cent back into use, figures from Cardiff Bay showed yesterday.

The number vacant has ballooned since 2012-13, when it stood at 19,612, but the Welsh government said it is working with councils to bring homes back into use.

More empty homes have been brought back into use in recent years — 962 (4.9 per cent) in 2012-13, rising to 1,347 (5.8 per cent) in the last financial year.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Smoke from an explosion rises in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, July 18, 2025
Wales / 18 July 2025
18 July 2025
Various For Sale, Sold and Let By estate agent signs juxtaposed next to a Dreams store in Clapham, London
Class / 18 July 2025
18 July 2025

Our housing crisis isn’t an accident – it’s class war, trapping millions in poverty while landlords and billionaires profit. To solve it, we need comprehensive transformation, not mere tokenistic reform, writes BECK ROBERTSON

Canoers on Llyn Padarn lake in Snowdonia, Gwynedd, it is expected to be announced that the north-west Wales slate landscape has been granted UNESCO World Heritage Status. Picture date: Wednesday July 28, 2021
Cymru / 1 July 2025
1 July 2025