This week the Government is announcing yet another package of measures designed to encourage vacant homes to be brought into use. On the face of it, there is nothing wrong with this. Quite the opposite: who could oppose vacant homes being brought into use in the midst of a chronic and worsening housing shortage? But it is important to consider what a healthy housing system would look like – in all aspects, including its vacancy rate. And doing so should give us pause before committing ourselves to a housing system with the lowest possible vacancy rate. Housing is not a…