MORE than 1,000 homes in York are standing empty new figures have revealed – with 734 unoccupied for more than six months.

One privately owned home has lain empty for 15 years, one housing association property had been empty for three and a half years and one council property was empty for 60 weeks, but is now occupied.

The figures, obtained from City of York Council through a Freedom of Information request, exclude second homes.

They show that as of March 31, 734 residential properties had been empty for more than six months, of which 586 were privately owned. In total, there were 1,263 empty residential dwellings in York on March 31.

The number of empty properties sparked concern from Campbell Robb, chief executive of the housing charity Shelter, who said: “With homelessness rising and millions priced out of the housing market, it is simply wrong that homes stand empty while people across the country are desperately in need of a roof over their head.”

But he said bringing empty homes back in to use alone was not enough to solve the housing crisis, and the Government needed to focus on getting the construction sector going, so that desperately needed, good-quality affordable family homes could be built.

The 60-week empty property referred to was a park keeper’s property formerly within Leisure Services, which is now let within the council’s main housing stock.

Council leader James Alexander said the administration was committed to using every available dwelling space to decrease the pressure on housing demand in the city, which had been a serious problem for years.

“The council has no long-term empty properties and only a small number of empty properties at any given time, which is always the case due to the period required for changeover of tenancies,” he said.

He said the council had made long-term private empty properties a priority in freeing up more housing, and had made real progress over the past 12 months.

“But with probate, those in prison and natural turnover in the housing market, there will always be some empty properties. The key for us is addressing those empty beyond six months that we can influence, which is exactly what we are doing.”

Four years ago, Labour called on the council to use new legislation to take control of disused houses, to ease the housing shortage.