The Report an Empty website has been taken off-line, with indications that the relevant contracts are under review. The website allowed members of the public to report empty homes and the information supplied was then forwarded to local authorities. Local authorities were encouraged to report back with any progress or actions being undertaken.
History
The website was launched in 2009 and was the brainchild of Empty Homes Agency Ltd.. The charity still owns the domain name and as far as we know the site is still the property of the charity although funding is thought to be mainly if not entirely from other sources such as Shelter (see below).
Subsequently, the website received further impetus as a result of George Clarke's Great British Property Scandal programmes on empty homes in 2011 and local authorities received a flurry of reports generated by the site. We believe that Channel 4 had an involvement in improvements to the site before control was returned to EHA Ltd..
In addition Shelter Cymru sought to promote the site as part of its empty homes initiative in Wales; and further support was provided by Shelter Scotland as it developed its Scottish-government-supported Scottish Empty Homes Partnership.
The site found a home as part of the mysociety.com portfolio of online resources, which includes WhatDoTheyKnow and TheyWorkForYou, and more specifically as part of FixMyStreet which seems to have its own development team.
The Empty Homes Network website has included a link to reportemptyhomes.com from our front page since 2011. The link has now been removed until such time as the site is live again.
Impact
In England, many local authorities have their own web-form to report empty homes; and conversely, few, possibly none, point members of the public towards the reportemptyhomes.com website.
In Wales and Scotland, however, the website seems to have been adopted as the "official" route to reporting empty homes, with many local authorities offering direct links to reportemptyhomes.com rather than providing their own web-forms. These reporting mechanisms are currently off-line.
What next?
Early indications are that the website has not been taken down for "strategic" or financial reasons but because it was not fulfilling its role properly owing to some technical issues that are being laid at the door of the development/support team.
Nevertheless, Kristen Hubert of the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership has suggested that this is an opportunity to review how the site is used and how its full potential can be realised: so there is likely to be a strategic review of it. No doubt the issue of Scottish independence may have some influence on the direction taken.
Kristen has said she would welcome feedback from EHN members about their experience of the reportanempty tool: so if you are able to supply any you are strongly encouraged to log in and post a comment to this story.