They aim to:

• Reduce homelessness
• Halt the growth of inner-city ghost towns
• Stop green space from being eaten away by new housing development
• Stop the blight caused to adjoining properties by vacant houses

Ashley Horsey: Empty homes "a scandal"

Homeless people's organisations, environmental activists and church groups are among those participating in the campaign co-ordinated by the Empty Homes Agency, a charity funded in part by the Department of the Environment and the National Lottery.

'National disgrace'

Councils will be encouraged to bring properties back into use

Empty Homes Agency chief executive Ashley Horsey described the current situation as a "scandal".

"With 250,000 homes standing empty for more than a year, and more than 100,000 households accepted as homeless each year, it is a national disgrace that half of the local authorities in England do not have a credible programme for putting this wasted resource to use," he said.

Mr Horsey said the campaign was "calling up on people to do whatever they think is necessary to get message through to elected representatives".

He said while the campaign did not actively advocate the squatting of empty properties, it would not oppose it where it seemed appropriate.

The campaign aims to:

• Identify empty homes
• Put pressure on owners to fill them
• Encourage local authorities to bring empty council-owned properties back into use.

Mr Horsey acknowledged that some of the properties might be empty because they were in run-down areas where people did not want to live.

"There will be specific issues relevant to local areas. However, it is all too easy for people to throw up their hands in horror and say there is nothing we can do."

He cited examples in city centres including Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle, which have seen successes in using formerly unwanted buildings to meet housing needs.

"Over the past five years, we have worked with local authorities and other organisations to fill 150,000 empty homes."