The party’s housing spokesperson Ariane Burgess said she had secured a commitment from ministers last year to strengthen enforcement powers and reform compulsory purchase orders to make it easier to acquire properties.

The enactment of other Scottish Green policies has enabled councils to more effectively monitor second and empty homes in their areas and to increase council tax levied on them in order to motivate owners to renovate, sell or rent properties.

As a result, data released last month showed that there were 21,606 second homes and 43,538 empty properties in Scotland.

The data, using council tax records, showed that 73% of the empty properties (31,596) had been empty for over a year. It also shows that the number of second homes had fallen by 10% in the last year.

Ms Burgess said: “Bringing empty homes back into use is a win-win – it can provide much-needed housing and revitalises communities.

“While the vast majority of people will want to see empty homes brought back into use voluntarily, there are some that are stuck in a broken and cumbersome system. It is in those cases that councils need powers with real teeth.

“We need robust powers to ensure that long-term empty homes are brought back into use and I look forward to hearing the outcome of the compulsory purchase orders review in the New Year.

“In the Highlands & Islands region that I represent there are 6,823 homes that have been empty for more than a year and a further 7,870 that have been empty for six months or more. That’s almost 15,000 homes lying empty in the midst of a housing emergency.

“The Scottish Government and our local authorities must look for innovative ways to get those homes back into use. We know this can be achieved at a fraction of the cost of new buildings.

“It’s also vital that all levels of government are working to support renovation and retrofit of empty homes. Some councils are doing brilliant work using in-house specialist empty homes officers, but the recently-announced planning hub could also provide a resource for councils to call on.”

Housing minister Paul Mclennan said: “We have allocated £80 million to councils over two years to increase the supply of social and affordable homes through acquisitions including bringing long-term voids back into use.

“We have also introduced more powers for local authorities to allow them to increase council tax up to 100% on certain properties empty for one year or more as well as on second homes.

“We will also invest £2 million in 2025 to help local authorities unlock barriers, develop a targeted approach and embed empty homes work across their services to bring more privately owned empty homes back into use.

“Our compulsory purchase reform programme has made substantial progress. We published a progress report on December 18 and in 2025 we will publish a consultation on a comprehensive package of proposals to reform and modernise the system.”