Thousands of homes around the county have stood empty for more than six months, according to the latest figures.

Across Kent and Medway, more than 7,000 houses are long-term empty in what a leading housing charity describes as the "stark reality" of the country's "broken" housing market.

Campaigners say the properties could be brought back into use to help families in need of social housing.

In Medway, 2,648 properties were found by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to be "unoccupied and substantially unfurnished" - 1,208 of which have stood empty for half a year or more.

In Thanet, 999 homes have been long-term empty - 56% of the vacant properties in the area.

Maidstone saw a 36% rise in the number of homes standing empty, rising to 485.

Dartford’s 304 was up 19%, while Canterbury had 644 - up 17%.

Action on Empty Homes campaigns to bring more empty properties back into use for people in need of housing.

It believes that official figures underestimate the true scale of the problem.

Government statistics do not include derelict properties that could be refurbished, or second homes that are rarely occupied.

The majority of the long-term empty properties were low-value houses in the bottom two council tax bands.

Action on Empty Homes campaign manager Chris Bailey said that many neighbourhoods at the lower end of the housing market are "blighted by empty homes and under-investment".

He said: “Empty homes are a canary in the coal mine telling us the stark reality of our broken housing market. The time to fix that is now.

“Every empty home is a wasted opportunity to make a family’s life better, and at a time of national housing crisis this is more critical than ever.

“The government needs to invest money in getting these homes back into use, particularly in lower value markets, in order to meet the high level of housing need in those communities.”

Tunbridge Wells had 408 empty homes, Folkestone and Hythe 468, Tonbridge 400 and Swale 407.

Sevenoaks saw a 15% increase over the year to 445 while Ashford’s figures went up 15% to 368. Dover saw a drop of 7% to 605.

Gravesham had the lowest figure in the county at 296.

Across England, 228,000 properties had been unoccupied for more than six months, up from 217,000 last year.

Kent County Council has been active over recent years in trying to resolve the issue with its No Use Empty initiative proving highly successful and a model for similar schemes across the country.

It can provide interest-free loans for property owners to turn long-term empty properties back into use.

KCC cabinet member for economic development Mark Dance said: “The initiative has been an unqualified success, creating over 5,400 new homes since 2005, at a fraction of the cost of building new ones.

"It is having a regenerative effect on towns and communities across Kent."

Polly Neate, chief executive of homelessness charity Shelter, said: “Looking at the figures, it’s exasperating to see that the number of empty properties has increased at a time when there are so many families without a safe place to call home.”

A spokesperson from the Ministry of Housing said: “Local authorities have a range of powers at their disposal to tackle long-term empty homes, and we expect them to use them.”

Next year local authorities will have the power to double council tax on homes left empty for two years or more - a premium currently capped at 50%.

Councils across Kent already charge a premium on a number of long-term empty homes.