This property was the subject of a compulsory purchase order

Property speculators and landlords are thought to be responsible for the empty homes, collectively thought to be worth millions of pounds, in Hackney.

The council has 8,002 households on its waiting list and 3,909 tenants awaiting a transfer.

More compulsory purchase orders are to be used to bring homes back into use.

By the end of June, there were 2,419 households in temporary accommodation in Hackney, one of the UK's most deprived areas.

Lots more single people are also thought to be homeless or in "very insecure" accommodation.

On average the council's reception desk gets 430 people a month asking for help but it only has 200 bedsits and one-bed flats.

Properties stand empty in areas like De Beauvoir Town

Yet properties are left standing empty for years.

Some in the more affluent areas like De Beauvoir Town are thought to be worth more than �500,000 each.

The council is offering landlords advice on developing properties through a housing association for key workers, or leasing it long-term to the local authority.

But councillors are also threatening more compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) to take possession themselves if necessary.

It can be a long process. The council finally took possession of a house in Rushmore Road in July, nearly ten years after its owner died in a fire.

Councillor Jamie Carswell said he wanted residents to report empty homes.

"Owners who allow their properties to fall into disrepair are doing no-one any favours," he said.

"Quite often these homes are magnets for vandalism and squatters, and can lower the values of the surrounding property by as much as �10,000."