Wednesday May 14th 2025
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
Senior Scottish Borders councillors today endorsed funding of £49k to cover the cost of a new ’empty homes’ officer after the appointment was deemed a “no brainer”.
Empty homes represent a wasted resource in the Borders which can also cause significant problems for neighbours and surrounding communities. Latest figures estimate there are currently more than 1,150 empty homes in the region.
It is recognised that working pro-actively with owners to bring homes back into use can be time consuming and complex.
In May 2024 the Scottish Government declared a national housing emergency, with the First Minister recognising that investment in housing needs to be a fundamental part of delivering a “fairer Scotland”.
SBC also declared a local housing emergency on May 30 last year, reflecting the pressures affecting housing locally.
When members of the council’s decision-making Executive Committee met on Tuesday they approved the use of £49k from the Second Homes Council Tax affordable housing investment budget to match fund a second dedicated Empty Homes Officer for a period of 24 months.
Councillor Carol Hamilton, Scottish Borders Council’s executive member for Housing and Culture, said: “Bringing empty homes back into use not only provides a home but changes lives for communities.
“With an additional empty homes officer we can build on the success already achieved.”
Councillor Simon Mountford, Conservative for Kelso & District, added: “This is a no-brainer. I can’t think of a single reason why we wouldn’t want to do this.
“The existing scheme has been a success but I was surprised and disappointed that the number of empty homes had actually increased regardless of what we had done to reduce them.
“Hopefully this second officer will help to reduce that total and will be able to be pro-active and make inroads into this process.”
Councillor Tom Weatherston, Conservative for Kelso & District, addressed negative social media comments made over the proposal.
He said: “I think what the public need to realise is that a few months ago we declared a housing emergency. This is action talking louder than words.
“If this gets more empty homes filled then I support this 100 per cent. This is us trying to solve a housing emergency.”
The council currently has one permanent Empty Homes Officer who provides advice and assistance to empty home-owners and administers the Empty Homes Grant Scheme.
Currently, the existing Empty Homes Officer has an extensive case-load and with the introduction and roll-out of the grant scheme capacity in this area has been constrained.
Consequently, the scope of the service provided tends to be reactionary, rather than proactive – which it was initially and prior to the introduction of the grant scheme.
A report to the committee stated: “The grant scheme is making a meaningful contribution to addressing the issue of empty homes in the Borders and its success underscores the importance of continued investment and strategic support to ensure that more vacant properties can be transformed into valuable housing assets for our communities.
“A second Empty Homes Officer will support the Housing Emergency Response and delivery of the action plan by creating capacity to help enable the continued development and delivery of a strategic approach to empty homes activity.”
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