AS the country gears up to build its way out of the housing crisis new statistics show how many homes are empty in Black Country boroughs.

An analysis of official figures by the BBC shows Sandwell has 1,171 vacant homes, or 13.62 per square kilometre, which makes the authority 31st out of 360 English councils when ranked for highest number of empty homes per square kilometre.

Dudley is 65th with 1,005 empty homes, or 10.26 per square kilometre, the worst in England is Kensington and Chelsea with 116.58 per square km and Hackney is second with 55.05 in the same category.

The average in England is 1.82 empty properties per square kilometre.

Councillor Laura Taylor, Dudley cabinet member for housing, said: “We work hard to tackle the number of empty properties across the borough. It includes working with owners to remind them of the importance of ensuring properties are occupied as well as secure and tidy.

"We also provide grants to owners of up to £10,000 to help bring their properties back into use, as part of a scheme which also helps us reduce the number of people on the housing waiting list. In the more extreme cases we have legal powers to force owners to tidy up and secure their properties but this is always a last resort.”

Councils have the power to charge extra council tax on properties that have been empty for two years and legislation announced in the budget will mean authorities can charge double the tax.

Dudley currently has 403 homes to which this charge applies, Sandwell has 372.

Councillor Steve Trow, Sandwell cabinet member for core council services, said: "Sandwell Council was an early adopter of the power to apply a council tax premium to empty homes. We welcome new powers that can strengthen our ability to induce owners to use or sell long-term empty homes. Sandwell remains committed to tackling the drain on local housing stock and so releasing much-needed homes for local people.

"We regularly carry out checks on homes where we haven’t received any council tax information in order to confirm their status and, when necessary, have used compulsory purchase powers and notices to deal with long-term empty properties."

There are several reasons why homes are left empty: rising repair bills, speculators buying homes to sell for a profit later or just because people don't want to live in rundown areas.

Apart from hiking council tax, authorities also have powers to temporarily take control of empty homes to rent them out or buy them outright under a Compulsory Purchase Order.