Bringing empty homes back into use - approaches and interventions: evidence scoping review

2. Methodology

This document is intended to provide an initial summary of evidence from the literature on approaches to tackling empty homes as well as a brief description of their outcomes and relevance to the Scottish context. This work is intended as a scoping review on these topics and is not intended to be exhaustive. While every attempt was made to scope the literature in a robust way, this work does not constitute a systematic review and therefore it is possible that some relevant sources may not be included. Studies are reported as they were described in the literature at the time of their production, and data are gathered from multiple places and multiple time periods. As such, programmes and funding streams discussed may have ceased and this paper is not intended to provide a comprehensive statement of policy actions or positions in Scotland or elsewhere. This review has been produced at the same time that an independently conducted audit of empty homes in Scotland has been contracted. This audit is currently being undertaken by external researchers and the findings are due for publication in 2023.

This evidence review is primarily based on sources compiled by the Scottish Government library, identified as part of a literature search conducted in April 2022 and supplemented with additional ad hoc searches to address gaps. The evidence from this initial review is drawn from trusted databases the library subscribes to, and from subsequently identified publicly available resources on the internet. It includes both peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed content (i.e. grey literature).

The library database search aimed to identify research articles published globally in English within the last ten years and available via K&E, IDOX, Knowledge Network, Policy Commons, ProQuest and Google Advanced Search.

To be considered for inclusion the literature had to be published between April 2012 and April 2022, written in English and include the following terminology in the title and/or abstract or summary:

1. Empty Homes

1.1 OR Vacant Homes

1.2 OR Unoccupied Homes

2. AND one or more of the following:

2.1 managing numbers of

2.2 powers to manage

2.3 problems

2.4 issues

2.5 taxation/taxes

2.6 preventing

2.7 regeneration

2.8 bringing back into use

2.9 repairs

3.0 blight

3.1 solutions

3.2 strategies

3.3 interventions

These terms were drawn from an initial scoping of key terms from relevant articles already known to the research team. The initial literature search conducted by the library returned 98 articles and reports. The library search was complemented by a general search of third and public sector sites to identify policy initiatives or recommendations made in relation to empty homes. The detail of initiatives mentioned in the literature was also checked and to determine whether these initiatives remained in operation where possible. The 37 sources included in this overview were selected by reviewing titles and abstracts for relevance to the Scottish context, in terms of information and examples of schemes, laws, rules, systems, approaches and models from around the world to manage numbers of empty homes. The evidence included in this overview draws from the UK nations, Europe, the USA, Canada, Japan and South Korea.