Is the answer to our housing shortage standing empty on a street near you?

It hasn't been lived in at all during the four years since we moved to York. Word has it, the property, once a family home, is now used for little more than storage.

Occasionally someone emerges carrying a bag of concrete, but for the most part it sits there unloved and the overgrown bushes out front encroached into next door some time ago.

It's exactly the kind of property, City of York Council wanted to identify when it launched a review of empty homes two years ago. Owners of abandoned properties across the city were contacted in an attempt to bring vacant homes back into use, but as authorities across the country have learned it's not easy.

In Britain there are more than 1.7 million people on housing waiting lists, yet the 762,000 properties which stand empty, half for six months or more, could accommodate at least one million of them.

At the heart of the problem is money. Many local authorities, say the figures just don't add up and with some properties costing up to 50,000 to renovate, it's better value for money to build new housing developments.

It's a figure Empty Homes disputes. Established in 1992 as a campaigning voice for those who needed homes and those who were frustrated with the number of abandoned properties, the group claims the average cost of renovation is 10,000 and what's really needed is a little lateral thinking.

"At the very time when people need more homes, record numbers of properties are falling empty," says the organisation's chief executive David Ireland. "Most people agree that bringing empty homes back into use is a good idea, but many say that in practice it's much too difficult.

"It's an opinion which generally comes from the lips of councillors or those who run housing associations. Generally what it means is that they know they have to create more homes, but the way they know how to do it is to deal with a developer who is building a large new housing estate.

"But housing associations do have a problem. Last year just 118,000 homes were built in this country, just half the Government's target. If social housing is going to keep pace it needs to borrow the skills of private landlords whose talent lies in renovating empty properties. Making use of our current stock of abandoned homes is a viable way of creating new housing. It's only too difficult if you don't know how

to do it."

Empty Homes encourages people to log rundown properties on their website. The information is then passed onto the relevant local council and progress is reported through online updates until the property is back in use.

In 18 years of campaigning, it has successfully fought for tax breaks to help people renovate properties and all councils now have a named person whose responsibility is to reduce the number of empty homes.

However, the organisation fears if simple lessons are ignored the blight of boarded up homes will get worse not better.

"Until recently squatting was legal in the Netherlands just as it is over here," says David. "Basically if the owner of a building left it empty for more than a year they lost the right to evict squatters. The effect was property owners did everything they could to ensure their property was occupied.

"A whole industry grew up to help by providing guardian services to match people with vacant homes. Not only did the law minimise the number of empty properties, but as a by-product it created a new sector of cheap and accessible housing.

"It's a truth that few dare speak here, but the risk of squatters is a powerful motivator to ensure a house is lived in. Squatting has now been banned in the Netherlands and there have been mutterings on our backbenches about making it illegal here too.

"Plenty of people will tell you about the harm squatting causes, and much of it is true, but we also have to be honest about the good it can do."

In recent years, councils across Yorkshire have tried to face the problem head on. In the summer, East Riding Council used a compulsory purchase order to take control of a three-bedroom property in Hessle which had been left empty for 15 years. It was not a decision taken lightly, but the authority was compelled to act after residents complained it was having a negative effect on the rest of the area.

A pilot scheme has also been launched in Doncaster where owners of empty properties are being offered 12,000 to bring them back into use. The cash is being provided by the council and in return the houses will be tied into a five-year management agreement with St Leger Homes, the company which manages the borough's stock of council houses.

However, there have been setbacks. Under the New Homes Bonus Scheme councils are offered extra money for every newly-built home. The move, which sees the Government matching the council tax raised on each new house for six years, is aimed at easing housing shortages, but many fear it could lead to the building of new developments no-one wants.

"There is a danger that this could just create ghost estates," adds David.

"The lesson of recent years is that where councils are encouraged to give planning permission for large numbers of empty dwellings, the result is poor quality developments that lie empty because nobody wants to live in them."

No-one pretends the problem is easy to solve, but there was some good news in the Comprehensive Spending Review with the coalition setting aside 100m to bring empty homes back into use as part of its affordable house building programme.

"The overall impact of the cuts means affordable homes will need to be provided more cheaply than before," says David.

"Finally this may be an opportunity for councils, housing associations and community groups to pool their skills and create homes out of empty properties."

Sir Bob Kerslake, former boss of Sheffield City Council and now chief executive of the Homes and Community Agency says his organisation has already spent 19m on refurbishing 550 homes. Yet more has been invested into run-down council estates, but he insists it is not a problem you can solve simply by throwing money at it.

"What you tend to find is that once the houses become empty they stay empty for some time," he says. "The challenge authorities have is dealing with landlords who may not have the skills or financial capability of bringing the houses up to the standard they require."

Certainly more needs to be done. Empty Homes is also calling on the Government to remove council tax discounts on long-term empty

properties, provide incentives for empty homes to be adapted and renovated rather than demolished and update the powers which allow the public to call for abandoned local authority properties to be returned to use.

"We all have a part to play," says David. "If everyone who is affected by this growing problem reported just one empty home it would provide a huge impetus and send a huge message to the Government and councils

that action is needed now."

Number of empty homes across region

Barnsley 4,635

Bradford 13,888

Calderdale 2,394

Craven 801

Doncaster 5,236

East Riding 5,570

Hambleton 1,926

Harrogate 2,557

Kingston upon Hull 7,260

Kirklees 5,048

Leeds 18,569

Rotherham 4,273

Ryedale 932

Scarborough 1,869

Sheffield 4,435

Wakefield 4,216

York 1,713.