Alarm Raised Over 3,000 Empty Homes in Reading

Alarm has been raised after Reading Borough Council data showed 3,524 empty homes in the town, including 1,086 classed as long-term empty (unfurnished for six months or more).

The figures were revealed after two opposition councillors questioned progress on the councils Empty Homes Strategy, adopted in 2020. It set targets to bring 20 homes back into use in the first three years and 30 in the following three; the strategys six-year term expires this year.

Councillor James Moore (Liberal Democrats, Tilehurst) said: "In the five years since the strategy was approved, no performance update has been brought to any committee. Performance data has instead been reported only through private lead councillor briefings, meaning residents, committees, and opposition councillors have had no public visibility of whether the council has met its own targets."

At a full council meeting on October 13, the lead housing councillor Matt Yeo said the council fell slightly short of targets for four years but then met them with 32 homes brought back into use in 2025/26. The council has also raised more than 300,000 from council tax premiums this year alone when higher charges for empty and second homes are included.

Cllr Yeo (Labour, Caversham) said: "The council continues to monitor empty homes activity and work with owners to maximise the re-use of existing housing stock for the benefit of Reading residents."

Cllr Moore pointed to government council taxbase data from last October showing 1,162 empty and unfurnished properties in the town, of which 474 had been vacant for more than a year. Following a question from Rob White (Green, Park) about what happens when the strategy expires, Cllr Yeo said a new strategy is being devised and is due to go to the housing, neighbourhood and leisure committee next March.

James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter