A CAMPAIGN group is calling for thousands of empty homes in Southampton to be used to help solve the national housing crisis.

Action on Empty Homes says it is "exceptionally worrying" that more than 500,000 UK properties are vacant while tens of thousands of families are living in temporary accommodation.

The group has spoken out after analysing data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

Figures show that in October last year 2,003 homes in Southampton were not being used - up from 1,826 in 2019. Of these, 888 were long-term vacancies - properties unoccupied for at least six months - and 1,115 were second homes.

It means one in every 55 homes in Southampton were out of use.

Separate figures from MHCLG show there were 171 households in Southampton in temporary accommodation in September, including 291 children.

Royston Smith, Tory MP for Southampton Itchen, urged the city council to tackle what he described as "this dreadful situation".

Mr Smith said one property in Bitterne had been empty for years and was infested in pigeons.

Alan Whitehead, Labour MP for Southampton Test, added: "I know that bringing empty homes into use is something the council have been working on.

"However, the housing charity Shelter has said there is a bigger fundamental problem with affordable housing in the UK. I'd like to see the government give councils the funding they need to provide decent affordable homes."

A city council spokesperson said the authority tried to prevent homelessness.

They added: "Where this is not possible we provide self-contained temporary accommodation – not Bed and Breakfast - whilst a permanent home can be found.

"We continue to encourage all empty home owners to bring their properties back into use as soon as possible.

"However some owners fail to respond, despite being charged up to 300% council tax in some cases, and not all empty homes are suitable for immediate occupation.

"We are therefore running a small experimental project to see how limited resources, applied within a legal process, can lead to empty homes being refurbished – or possibly sold as a last resort – and then reoccupied.

"The results are encouraging and strongly suggest that, without our intervention, little would have changed with respect to the empty properties concerned.

"Elsewhere we continue to make excellent progress on our ambitious programme to provide 1,000 new homes by 2025."