A Micro-Market for Vacant Housing

Vacant buildings can languish for a variety of reasons. Some are chronically disused: a neglected property falls into disrepair, making it a liability that is eventually more expensive to fix than to ignore. For others, leaving units empty is a management choice. When rent-controlled apartment buildings are slated for refurbishment or re-purposing, for example, the process of moving tenants out can take years, with the first units vacated remaining useless until the process is finished.

In London, which has its fair share of blighted properties, one organization is working on a solution to the city's housing waste problem by offering community-minded individuals the chance to live cheaply in apartment homes that would otherwise sit empty. Dot Dot Dot Property Guardians has plenty of raw material to work with: slightly more than 3 percent of the total housing stock in England (more than 700,000 homes) was reported empty last year by the independent non-profit Empty Homes Agency (figures, based on council tax data, do not include homes deemed "uninhabitable," homes slated for demolition, or apartments above storefronts which, though habitable, are counted as commercial property). Of these, 39 percent had been empty for more than six months. Despite a nationally recognized housing shortage, many landlords still find it preferable - financially, legally, or as a matter of convenience - to keep homes unoccupied.