FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 12, 2020

Today, Action on Empty Homes, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), and Prosper

Australia, announce the launch of the Global Empty Homes Network (GEHN). The global

consortium of NGO housing organizations and partners are collaborating to understand the

international forces exacerbating the global housing crisis. The three organizations, based in the

UK, the US, and Australia respectively, will focus particularly on the mismatch between empty

homes and housing need.

“Many countries face the prospect of both an increase in homelessness and an increase in

empty homes as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. At this critical time, it is imperative governments

look to the long term and prevent both a surge of evictions and repossessions”, says Will

McMahon, Director of Action on Empty Homes, a London-based organization. “The housing

market must be protected from speculative purchases of distressed assets from global players.”

GEHN will gather not only NGO leaders but also housing policy experts, local governments and

philanthropists, to study the magnitude of the problem, understand how vacancies are impacting

different markets, and share best practices for solving the problem. The group plans to share

these strategies with the United Nations for consideration.

Though neither the housing crisis nor the plague of vacant houses is new, organizers say the

situation is coming to a dangerous tipping point. It is predicted that, as economies continue to

struggle, the spectre of hundreds of thousands of foreclosure actions will lead to families losing

their homes and to communities across the globe facing neighborhoods full of housing

vacancies.

There is also concern over a growing trend of large international investors with very deep

pockets buying up entire neighborhoods.

“The more empty homes there are for sale, the more can be snapped up in bulk by these

investors awash in equity, diminishing the opportunity for genuinely affordable homes,” adds

McMahon.

“The economic fallout of Covid-19 has pushed the United States to the edge of a housing cliff,”

says Denise Scott, Executive Vice President at LISC. “Unless we act now, the pandemic will

cause massive displacement of renters and homeowners and create swathes of vacant homes

across America – at levels that eclipse even the 2008 foreclosure crisis. Black and Brown

people, once again, will disproportionately suffer the consequences. Today’s housing market is

a global housing market and we need bold, global principles that we can carry out locally. This

is the only way to close the chronic and critical gap between housing that provides affordable,

quality shelter and “housing” as wealth investment.”

The network cites one solution as crucial moving forward—ensuring communities’ access to

more transparent information about housing utilisation.

Karl Fitzgerald, Director of Research at Prosper Australia, says: “Most nations do not produce

an independent statistical measure of vacancy that includes both vacant properties for rent and

those left as vacant investment vehicles. This has allowed the development lobby a free rein to

claim land supply, rather than speculative behaviour, is the dominant driver of affordability

pressures. With vacancies expected to sharply rise during the pandemic, governments must

move to deter such behaviour by taxing empty land and housing.”

In light of the urgency of the housing crisis and the exacerbating effect of the Covid-19

pandemic, GEHN is immediately calling for countries to adopt ten principles to meet the

extreme impact of the pandemic on housing needs.

The three founding organizations state GEHN’s overarching goal as: “We must do everything in

our power to make sure that stable, safe, affordable housing is available for all the individuals

and families in our communities around the world. That means protecting our homeowners and

renters during this fraught time, and it means protecting the housing stock as quality, affordable

shelter for people.”

About the Global Empty Homes Network (GEHN) partners

Action on Empty Homes is England’s leading campaign for empty homes to be brought into use

for people in housing need. It raises awareness of the waste of long-term empty homes;

campaigns for changes to national policy; supports local communities in transforming their

neighbourhoods; provides advice for those seeking to bring empty homes back into use; and

researches and develops ideas for bringing long-term empty homes back into use for those in

housing need. 

https://www.actiononemptyhomes.org/

The Local Initiatives Support Corporation, known as LISC, is one of the United States’ largest

NGOs supporting projects and programs to revitalize communities and bring greater economic

opportunity to residents. It invests in affordable housing, safer streets, growing businesses and

programs that connect people with good jobs and financial opportunity. It provides the capital,

strategy and know-how to local partners to get this done. Its work impacts the lives of millions of

Americans in both rural and urban places across the country. 

https://lisc.org/our-initiatives/affordable-housing/housing-stabilization-fund/