More than 2,500 homes across Wolverhampton are empty despite thousands on waiting list

New figures show that there are currently 2,668 homes standing empty in the city.

Of these, 234 are council properties, whilst 2,420 are private rental properties and 14 are other council-owned properties.

These 14 other properties have been earmarked for other uses like regeneration projects, education facilities, and sheltered accommodation flats for families.

The report comes after a Freedom of Information request made by the Express & Star. It shows the number of empty houses in the city whilst there are more than 8,300 people on the waiting list for a council-owned home.

The news comes as, in November last year, it was revealed that a total of 8,374 people were on the waiting list for just 69 homes.

It was also revealed that just 1,042 affordable homes have been built in the city between 2006 and 2014.

A Wolverhampton Council spokesman said: "The figures in the private housing sector are improving and what must be factored in is that the figures relate to all residential properties that are empty, including those that have been empty for a relatively short period – less than six months.

"Properties remaining empty for this relatively short period is part of the normal functioning of the housing market in relation to sales and purchases.

"Through the council's Empty Properties Strategy, more than 1,000 privately-owned houses, which had been left unoccupied – often in poor condition – have been brought back into use since 2010. This is achieved by offering advice and assistance through to compulsory purchase orders."

It follows the recent news that three empty homes that have blighted communities in the city are to be bought by the council.

Properties at Goodyear Avenue, Low Hill, Bushbury Lane, Bushbury and Allen Road, Whitmore Reans are about to be acquired under the empty homes strategy.

The houses have become magnets for anti-social behaviour with vandals managing to get inside and damage them, causing a nightmare for people living close by.

The Low Hill property has been unoccupied since 2005, the Whitmore Reans house since January last year and no-one has lived in the Bushbury home since 1993.