Making all second home owners pay council tax would generate £24m a year for Cornwall
A debate has been hearing what the council is doing to tackle the housing crisis
A debate on Cornwall's housing crisis has heard if every second home owner paid council tax, it would generate £24 million per year in revenue.
The council held a Facebook Live event on Wednesday to talk about what it is doing to tackle the issue.
Officials say the money could go towards providing more social and affordable housing, but it will need a change in the rules in Parliament.
Olly Monk is the portfolio holder for housing and planning at Cornwall Council and told us a loophole needs to be closed.
The Cllr said: "Our favour, where we can, is getting rid of that loophole and making all second homes liable to council tax. And obviously if it's a second home we can put a surcharge on that to get the extra revenue but we need that loophole to close and that's what our six MPs are lobbying for".
'We are currently experiencing a perfect storm'
Olly Monk opened the debate by reiterating that the council has made tackling the housing crisis in Cornwall its top priority, but adding that it will take collaboration.
He continued: "We have said before that we're currently experiencing a "perfect storm" in terms of housing pressures.
"The pandemic has added to the pressures that we were already facing in terms of providing our residents with good quality, affordable, homes in which to live.
"Over the past year we have seen this accelerate due to a combination of factors.
"House prices are rising as remote working gives people more flexibility as to where they live, making places like Cornwall a more viable option for many.
"The supply of private rentals has reduced as landlords sell up, either by choice or because they themselves have no financial alternative, or they turn their long-term rental properties into more lucrative holiday accommodation. This, in turn, means that rents in the private sector have risen to levels that are unaffordable for many.
"That means more pressure on social housing, with more than 20,000 households currently on the Homechoice housing register waiting for somewhere to live".
What action is Cornwall Council taking?
Olly Monk continued: "Alongside our longer-term Housing Strategy, our Housing Crisis Plan will involve a third of a billion pounds’ worth of investment moving forward into housing that the people of Cornwall want and it will also go some way to try to get the legislative changes we need at Parliament to be able to control the amount of second homes and also give us the ability to be able to set a Council Tax surcharge against those homes.
"The Council is expanding its temporary and emergency accommodation provision with sites at New County Hall in Truro and Rosewarne car park in Camborne, building a modular homes site near Pool, and is in the process of buying a holiday park to provide more safe places to stay.
"We are investing £39m in buying properties to provide decent temporary accommodation across Cornwall. Work is also under way on a Tenancy Sustainment and Rescue scheme, which will directly intervene to help tenants remain in their privately rented homes.
"And we are proposing a modular keyworker housing programme to provide rented homes across Cornwall’s main towns.
"The Council is continuing to work to reduce the number of Long Term Empty homes and tackle under-occupation in social housing.
"We have also proposed to the Government that planning permission should be needed to switch a home to a second residence or holiday let".
"There is a huge amount of work going on"
Olly Monk added: "In terms of providing more affordable homes, we plan to establish a Strategic Land Development Partnership between Cornwall Council and leading Registered Providers. Through this the Council will provide a pipeline of council-owned and acquired sites for accelerated development.
"We have purchased 130 homes at West Carclaze Garden Village in St Austell to make them available as affordable homes for local people in need, removing them from the open market. We want to significantly expand this programme throughout Cornwall.
"The Council is working with partners to bring forward 750 new extra-care homes across Cornwall and is exploring, again with its partners, a proposal that would see all homes built on rural exception sites being classed as affordable.
"We are also looking to work with Homes England on more flexible funding for community-led housing.
"In summary, there is a huge amount of work going on and it needs a co-ordinated effort between the Council and many organisations across Cornwall to get us to where we want to be".
One of the other ideas being tabled is grant funding to offer discount properties in Cornwall, so more people can afford to buy rather than rent.
You can watch the debate in full below...
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