Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary has announced that the government has allocated £100 million to the national affordable housing programme. The money will be used to bring empty homes back into use of which England currently has 762,000 empty homes, around half of them long-term vacant.

The news was welcomed by SmartShare whose spokesperson said "This is great news for all those who are on the affordable housing waiting list and will go someway in helping those who desperately need housing. It is incredible that there are so many empty homes available and it is obvious that the government needs to make housing a higher priority. Reducing the affordable housing budget from £8.4 billion to £4.4 billion in the next four years is devastating news."

SmartShare is the leading property website in the UK for affordable homes, please go to www.smartshare.co.uk to view the largest range of affordable homes to buy or rent today.