This strategy was agreed by Shropshire Council cabinet on 30 November 2022. It aims to provide an understanding as to why homes become empty, the issues caused by empty homes within an area and what advice and assistance is available to the owners of empty homes. The strategy also sets out how the council prioritises its resources to bring empty homes back into use in the most effective way, and where appropriate, will use the powers available to bring empty homes back into use.

Empty dwellings are a wasted resource and often blight our communities, especially in a local authority such as Shropshire where there is such high demand for housing. We plan to work together to identify empty homes so owners can be given advice and assistance in order to sell, lease or rent their dwellings. With this support available, enforcement action should happen only as a last resort.