Andy Burnham has championed a simple yet powerful idea - everyone deserves a good home to live in.

Listen to this article

In his landmark speech last week, he pledged to create the most ambitious council house-building programme since the post-war period.

Our future government would adopt a ‘Housing First’ philosophy so that everyone has a good home.

I am all for a philosophy that recognises a decent home is not a luxury - good housing underpins health, education, family stability, employment and community.

But if Britain is serious about a Housing First agenda, should bringing empty homes back into use not be their top priority before ploughing more money into new-builds?

England currently has more than 300,000 homes that have been empty for more than a year - the highest figure in over a decade - alongside more than one million properties not currently in permanent residential use.

And, these are not theoretical homes that require years of planning battles, lengthy........

© LBC