Cornwall's housing crisis has gone 'from a bonfire to an inferno out of control'
There are calls for housing to be the number one priority for the new council
The former councillor in charge of housing at Cornwall Council has warned the new Conservative administration that the current housing crisis is out of control.
Andrew Mitchell was the former Cabinet member for homes at Cornwall Council before the elections last month.
While the independent councillor was re-elected the Conservative group took the majority of seats and are now in control at County Hall.
However Cllr Mitchell has warned that those in charge will have to make housing their number one priority due to the current crisis in Cornwall.
With more and more people looking to buy properties in Cornwall the cost of housing has spiralled in recent months and there has been a severe lack of properties available to rent.
And with the ban on evictions put in place by the Government during the Covid-19 pandemic about to be lifted Cllr Mitchell fears the situation is about to get worse.
He said: “It is like somebody has had a bonfire going for a while and has now thrown three gallons of petrol on it and it is now an inferno.
“We need to start looking at whether what is happening now is just a bit of overheating and will disappear as we come out of lockdown or if we need to accept that this is the new normal in Cornwall.
“We need to do something now, we can’t wait and we need to address this situation and work out what can be done to help those affected.”
Cllr Mitchell fears that some private landlords might want to take advantage of the current spike in property demand and prices and evict their tenants and cash in.
He warned that while the eviction ban was in place a number of people found themselves unable to afford their rents and so now it has been lifted are in danger of being forced out of their homes.
The St Ives West and Towednack councillor said that he hopes that the new Conservative administration at County Hall will make housing a priority.
“We need to see action by Cornwall Council and have something done to tackle the crisis. We need a grown up discussion about whether this is the new normal or do we think when we come out of Covid this rush for country living from the big cities will slow up and go back to the pre-pandemic levels.
“But we need to come up with some plans to start addressing this now. We need to look at what we are building and who it is for. I am more than happy to work with the new administration if what they propose is best for the people of Cornwall.”
Cllr Mitchell said that while the last council did do some good work in providing affordable homes – Cornwall Council was the number one authority for providing affordable homes for the last two years – he admitted that there are other measures which also need looking at.
Not least is the need to ensure that affordable homes are truly affordable to local people.
He admitted that the decision to set affordable house prices at 80% of market rates was not making that happen.
“If you have a £300,000 home, which is what most new build family homes are coming to, to make that affordable they say you can buy it for £240,000. You and I and all your readers know that £240,000 is nowhere near affordable and to call it affordable is ridiculous.”
Cllr Mitchell said that the council needed to work with registered housing providers like Cornwall Housing, Coastline and Ocean Housing, amongst others, to set an affordable rate which is 50% of market value.
To do that he said that the council would have to work with the providers to get the Government and Homes England to agree to provide enough subsidy to enable that to happen.
He said: “It might mean that you provide less affordable homes but they will be homes that local families can afford.”
Last year during the pandemic the Government launched an “everyone in” initiative where it called on local councils to ensure that homeless people were not left on the streets and vulnerable to the virus.
This meant that councils had to find temporary accommodation for many people who might otherwise have been homeless.
Cllr Mitchell said that Cornwall Council’s emergency housing budget had gone over by £3.5million as a result of ensuring that there was nobody left on the streets. The Government has said that it would reimburse councils for the cost.
While the initiative was welcomed it also highlighted that the official figures for the number of homeless people are vastly underestimated.
Cllr Mitchell said: “We always felt that there must be more than was said. It was said that there were 4,300 rough sleepers across the whole of the UK. But in ‘everyone in’, which was fantastic, there were ten times that number – there were about 41,000 needing B&B accommodation.
“There is an ambition to eradicate homelessness by 2027 – I would like to see it done quicker. But the problem is 10 times worse than what had been acknowledged.”
But while Cllr Mitchell said that he wants to see Cornwall Council take a lead on tackling the housing crisis he recognises that it is not the only organisation which will need to work on it.
“It is bigger than anything that Cornwall Council can do on its own – it will mean a lot more money from central government.”