HEREFORDSHIRE has 1,713 empty homes, of which 625 have been vacant for over a year, new figures show – despite the county facing a dire shortage of affordable housing.

The figures stand in stark contrast to those of six years ago, when the council knew of just 309 empty properties.

But the increase is due at least in part to “ongoing closer monitoring, particularly in light of more recent legislative changes to second homes and long-term empty properties”, the council explained.

Since April the council charges double council tax on homes in the county vacant for over a year, with higher multiples for those empty for more than five or ten years.

The council says that meanwhile there are currently 663 people were on its social housing waiting lists.

Councillor Ben Proctor, (College ward) who raised the issue with council leaders last month, noted that on the basis of the new figures, “We could provide everyone on the housing waiting list with a home twice over and then some if we could house them in the empty properties in the county.”

Millie Boylan, Ross-on-Wye town councillor, who works on a number of social projects locally, pointed out that the official figures for those seeking housing “don’t include many ‘hidden homeless’ people in Herefordshire, who may be sofa surfing, sometimes for years”.

“The impact of that can be as bad as being on the streets,” she said. “They are at risk of exploitation and don’t have the legal right to the outreach help that’s given to (officially) homeless people.”

She is pressing for the town council to investigate buying up retail properties in Ross which it could then let out to businesses of its choosing while offering the upstairs as temporary accommodation to those in need, she added.