Hundreds of homes in Stockport are sitting empty despite a 12-year wait for social housing.

Across the borough, 263 properties were left empty over the past year, with 35 of these having not been lived in for more than a decade.

The lack of affordable homes in the borough has created a major problem, with at least eight thousand people on Stockport's housing register, which will take years to clear.

Higher rates of council tax are being charged to encourage the owners of long-term empty homes to bring them back into use, but housing charities say more can be done.

Charlie Trew, head of policy at Shelter, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that homes left empty for years can fall into ruin, leaving huge repair bills to make them fit for living in again.

He said councils could offer to fund repairs as part of a deal which would see the homes rented out as social housing, or use compulsory purchase powers to buy the properties themselves.

Stockport Town Hall (Image - Alasdair Perry)

"The challenge with empty homes is that it's a huge blight on communities, it's a very visible sign of the failure to tackle the housing crisis," he added.

"It can also hollow out communities if people find that there's no one living in certain areas because all the homes are derelict and empty. It's very important that we bring as many empty homes as possible back into use."

The lack of affordable housing in Stockport has piled pressure on council services, with the town hall reporting that it was facing 'unprecedented' levels of homelessness this summer.

Recent data from Shelter found that there are more than 300 people in Stockport without a home, including 125 children.

But homelessness is a growing problem across the whole of Greater Manchester, with the charity saying that there will be more than 16,000 people in the region without anywhere to live this Christmas.

Shelter said councils need to do "absolutely everything they can" to bring long-term empty homes back into use and build more social homes to address the escalating crisis.

(Image - Alasdair Perry)

Cllr Colin MacAlister, Stockport's housing lead, said the town hall has made real efforts to reduce the number of empty homes in the borough.

"It's a difficult one, we don't want to become Big Brother but equality we don't want people living next to empty houses," he explained.

"Stockport has a small number [of long-term empty homes] compared to other areas, but it's frustrating when we get a home that's not being maintained, that's normally when it comes to our attention.

"If it's being maintained we often do not know what's happening with it, it's like any other private property. That does happen and people may have long term plans for it. Unless it becomes a problem we can't do much."

Homes that have been empty for 12 months are charged double the rate of council tax in Stockport. This climbs to 200 percent for properties empty for five years, and 300pc for those empty for more than a decade.

This policy brought in more than £600,000 last year, but this is still much less than the council is spending on funding temporary housing for those at risk of homelessness.

The council expects its temporary accommodation spending to hit £1 million this year, a sharp rise from £180,000 in 2022.

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