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BBC’s Matt Allwright Confirmed as Conference 2021 Guest Speaker

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The Empty Homes Network is delighted to announce that TV presenter, journalist and writer Matt Allwright will be the guest speaker at this year’s Virtual National Empty Homes Conference, on Thursday 27th May, 2021.

Best known for his presenting roles on Watchdog and Rogue Traders, Matt’s more recent work has taken him into the world of local government enforcement, through programmes such as Housing Enforcers and The Empty Housing Scandal.

A huge advocate for the work that Housing and Empty Homes Officers do across the Country both in returning properties to use, but also ensuring that tenants have a safe place to live, Matt will share some of the insights and experiences faced as a journalist when it comes to housing, and why he thinks empty homes work being done by Councils across the Country is as important as ever in the current situation.

The National Empty Homes Conference Goes Virtual - Booking Now Open!

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The Empty Homes Network is excited to announce they have teamed up with virtual event platform HireSpace, to bring the 2021 National Empty Homes Conference online for the very first time, on Thursday 27th May, 2021.

As always with our theme of Information, Innovation and Inspriation, the Conference will be a day full of informative case studies, presentations and webinars, and provides a great opportunity to network with colleagues, share best practice and interact with our sponsors via dedicated pages and online chat or video functions.

With a huge thank you to all our sponsors, their support has enabled our pricing structure to be the most affordable and accessible Conference yet. With delegate prices starting from as little as £39 for not-for-profit organisations, our Corporate members will benefit from our discounted delegate rate (£49), as well as receiving one FREE delegate place for every two tickets purchased.

Empty Homes Figures Show Rise for Fourth Consecutive Year

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Data released last week by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show a fourth consecutive annual rise in long-term empty homes across the Country, resulting in the biggest rise in figures since records began.

9 out of 10 Councils have reported rises in their empty home figures, with one Authority showing as much as a 340% rise in figures submitted in the previous year.

Director of Action on Empty Homes, Will McMahon, said:

“The new figures are exceptionally worrying. It can’t be right that in the last four years we have seen an escalating housing crisis while the number of long-term empty homes keeps rising. Today there are nearly 100,000 families languishing in overcrowded and temporary accommodation at a time when we know that overcrowded housing is being linked to the spread of the corona virus and to higher mortalityiv.

National Empty Homes Conference Postponed - New Date Announced!

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Due to the ongoing uncertainty over the safety and all-round feasinility of holding our National Empty Homes Conference this year, the decision has been taken to postpone the event, with this now rearranged to be held on Thursday 27th May, 2021.

Whilst every effort has been made by EHN and etc. venues to ensure the Conference could continue as planned, it was felt that the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the hospitality sector and social distancing rules meant that we couldn't be certain that those delegates attending would benefit fully from the speakers, sponsors and networking oppotunities that the event has so successfully promoted in the past.

With the rearranged date now confirmed, we are able to plan and prepare for the event next year, and hope for this to be our biggest and most successful conference yet.

Information on speakers, sponsorship opportunities and delegate booking procedures will be released in due course, with all information found on our website and dedicated Conference pages.

OTHER STORIES

Repurposing Vacant Sheltered Accommodation for Fire Safety Trials

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With figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government showing that the number of long term vacant properties across England has risen to more than 216,000, we’re looking at the highest levels of homes standing empty (for more than six months) since 2012. Economically, this accounts for around £53.6bn of property in England alone, according to an analysis carried out by modular home and school builder Project Etopia.

Orbis Protect joins forces with E.ON to bring private homes back into use

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Leading property protection provider Orbis Protect has joined forces with E.ON, one of the UK's top energy suppliers, to support its drive to tackle the UK’s housing shortage by bringing empty homes back into use.

Orbis Protect is partnering with E.ON on the scheme and will provide specialist clearance and cleaning of any empty properties, externally and internally.

https enabled to give users more secure access

Story submitted by DGibbens on

A more secure protocol has been implemented for accessing the EHN website

This is the 'https' or Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure, replacing the previous 'http' protocol.

https is now regarded as the standard for websites that involve payments or where users enter passwords. It means all traffic from your browser to the website is encrypted.

See www.howtogeek.com/181767/htg-explains-what-is-https-and-why-should-i-care/ for further information.

2019 Conference Line-up - Updated

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Planning and preparation is well under way for the National Empty Homes Conference, to be held in Birmingham on Wednesday 25th September, 2019.

As always, a strong and varied speaker line-up includes presentations from:

- Kerrie Eastman; Streets2Homes & Harlow Council

Using Council owned empty properties to help homelessness

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