Call for redundant shops and offices to be converted into homes to ease Bristol's housing crisis

  • Watch Richard Payne's report here.

Abandoned shops and office blocks could be converted into homes in an effort to ease Bristol's housing crisis.

More than 21,000 households - around 41,000 people - are on the city council's waiting lists, some for many years.

Now the Green Party, the largest group on Bristol City Council, has put forward a motion calling on the current administration to do more to maximise its empty housing stock and work with developers to repurpose commercial units.

A recent survey estimates there is enough long-term empty retail space in Bristol to build 300 flats with availability set to double by 2030 as shopping habits move further online.

The number of people effectively homeless in Bristol rose to more than 3,000 last year. Credit: ITV News

"We need to look at how to can make use of unviable retail and office space but also bringing back into use homes which are currently empty," said Cllr Tony Dyer. "We also have 13,500 planning permissions which are not being delivered.

"There is a willingness to tackle the problem now. It's not good for the city and, therefore, not good for business, either."

Sherine shares a two-bed council flat in Easton, Bristol, with her three young children. She's waited for a move for more than six years and is on the highest priority Band A bracket.

"I've stopped believing now," she told ITV News West Country. "It's kind of a sit and wait but how long must we sit and wait? A lot has changed. I feel as though they're just throwing families anywhere."

Sherine says she's 'given up believing' the council will help her family find the home she wants Credit: ITV News

In addition, hundreds of council home are empty at any one time and more than five thousand privately owned properties are unoccupied. 

Cllr Tom Renhard, the cabinet member responsible for housing delivery at the city council, believes building more council houses is the most likely answer to reducing the waiting list.

"One thing we do have to balance with retail space is making sure there's the infrastructure in place that communities need - health services, shops and community spaces," he claimed.

"We want to see more of a focus in getting land for our own housing company to deliver more affordable housing."

Mayor Marvin Rees pledged to build 2,000 new homes every year when he came to power in 2016 but current figures out the average annual figure at 1,790 homes.

Just over 3,000 new homes are currently under construction.