NEW figures show there are currently thousands of privately-owned homes sitting empty across Oxfordshire and that number is on the increase.

Data for November obtained by the Oxford Mail show that despite attempts to battle the growing housing crisis, more than 4,400 homes are vacant - defined as unoccupied and unfurnished.

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This amount, which includes 505 in Oxford, has soared in the last 12 months while one property has not been used for 27 years.

The number of empty homes in the city has dropped significantly from the 900 recorded in 2008 but has in fact gone up by 200 since November 2015.

It includes 178 homes empty for more than a year and 76 for empty for more than two.

With demand for houses pushing up rents, East Oxford MP Andrew Smith has said tough measures like increased council tax rates should be implemented.

He said: "With the housing need we face, it makes sense for there to be incentives to bring empty homes back into occupation.

"The coalition government lengthened, from six months to two years, the period a house had to be empty before councils could apply for an Empty Dwelling House Management Order, and the procedure is complex.

"The best incentive would probably be to raise the council tax payable if a house is empty for an excessive period."

The MP added that this would have to be done sensitively to factor in cases of mental health issues or inheritance.

Campaign group Oxford Housing Crisis said much more had to be done to sort the problem out.

Spokeswoman Debbie Hollingsworth said: "The council clearly has a strategy for empty homes and do take all the action they can but it seems the whole process needs to be less bureaucratic.

"They are well aware of the problem, which is good, but the odds are stacked against them with such a lengthy and complex process.

"We need to look at making the process of bringing properties back into use easier.

"It is incredible how one home has been able to stay empty for as long as 27 years.

"They should look at some sort of cut off."

Oxford City Council board member for housing Mike Rowley said the local authority was doing all it could to bring the homes back into the housing stock.

He said: "We are under so much pressure in Oxford for housing, they just can't sit empty.

"We are going at it from both ends to give assistance to bring homes back into occupation and also helping letting agents find tenants.

"It is a case of identifying long-term empty homes, finding who owns them , find the reason for the home not being occupied, contacting the owners and offering help to bring it back to use.

"So many people are desperate for housing, it is only once we have been through all this that we would consider the legal route in extreme cases."

Mr Rowley added that he believed the increase in the past year was down to better reporting.

He said: "We are actively going out and looking at all the homes in Oxford which are empty and in need of development."

Latest figures provided by Oxford City Council show in March 2016 there were 3,534 households on the housing register and 115 households in temporary accommodation.

But some of those who own the empty houses say they have been held back by development constraints.

Homeowner Martin Young, who has empty properties in Oxford, said planning refusal has often kept him from developing the homes.

He said: "I do have empty homes in Oxford which I would have dealt with the council would let me.

"It is always a lot more complicated than it seems and there could be several reasons for an empty home.

"The biggest single reason for empty homes I’d say is planning, owners want to do something and the council doesn't."

As well as the impact on the housing market, some neighbours have concerns living near an empty property.

Resident Elizabeth Alli, who lives nearby a long term empty home on Cowley Road, said: "I don't like the thought of living right next to an empty house.

"If that much housing is empty then really the government and the council should be making some use of them."

Oxford’s housing crisis has recently led to a countywide consultation launched on how districts could help pick up the slack for the city's unmet housing needs.

There are plans for more than 14,000 homes to be built across the county to keep up with demand.