MPs say they've been 'inundated' with concerns about Cornwall's housing crisis
Many people across the Duchy are struggling to find somewhere to live
Cornwall is currently in the midst of a housing crisis with people finding themselves evicted from rental properties and unable to find anything available due to a massive increase in demand.
Combined with a clamour for homes in Cornwall from people who have realised that homeworking means they could have their desk overlooking the sea rather than in a busy city and the number of homes being turned into holiday lets on the rise it has led to what many are calling a perfect storm.
Cornwall’s six Conservative MPs have found that they have been inundated with concerns from constituents who have been affected by the crisis so we asked what they think could and should be done to address the problem.
Steve Double, St Austell and Newquay
Changes in planning rules and a big push to increase wage levels are top of the list for Mr Double who said that he felt that while there was a crisis now he expected it to “cool off” in the autumn.
Some have said there has always been a housing crisis in Cornwall and that it is now a housing emergency, but Mr Double didn’t agree.
“I am not sure I would have used the word crisis previously, but I certainly would now. Before it has been a challenge but over the last 12 months it has become significantly worse and right now crisis is an accurate description.
“I think you have got a number of things going on right now, we have a number of people wanting to move to Cornwall to live and people being told they can now work from home and if you can work from home why wouldn’t you want to work from Cornwall? I wouldn’t criticise anyone for wanting to live in Cornwall, there is nowhere else in the country I would live so you can’t blame other people for wanting to live here.
“You have also then got a number of people buying properties for holiday homes and estate agents I have spoken to have said that is not the major thing, it is more people wanting to move to Cornwall to live, there are some people buying holiday homes but estate agents say that isn’t the major thing.
“The other thing driving this is people who own properties which have had tenants in are either ending those tenancies in order to put the property on Airbnb or as a holiday let and again you can get £800 odd a month from a tenant but you can get £1,500 a week from a holiday let, you can understand why people are doing that, I’m not saying it’s a good thing but you can understand why people would do it.
“And then obviously because prices have gone up significantly people have decided for whatever reason landlords may want to sell.
“All of that feeds into a situation where either to buy or rent there is massive increase in demand and it is squeezing out local people.
“I think, to be blunt, I don’t think there is much we can do right now. The housing market is a very very complex thing, it always interests me when people say there are very quick and easy answers because usually what you find is that if you do something quick and easy it has unintended consequences elsewhere.
“For example the restriction in neighbourhood development plans to limit new builds to full residential, I understand why you would do that but in St Ives the local housing price rose by 15% because you put all the demand on existing stock so they become even more out of reach of local people.
“I don’t think there is a quick or easy collusion. Cornwall Council is looking at what they can do with the temporary accommodation with the bunkabins and park home sites in Newquay.
“Medium term I think part of the challenge in Cornwall is we need more houses but we all know what happens when someone suggests a new housing development you get outcry from local people saying we don’t want anymore housing, but the reality is we do need more houses we have got to or our young people are never going to find anywhere.
“The houses that get bought for holiday lets and second homes do not tend to be the properties on new housing estates, I think that one in three properties on new estates were not bought by owner occupiers but bought as buy-to-let but clearly that is still making them available for local people to rent. I think it is a misconception that all new homes are being sold to people coming into Cornwall.
“The other misconception is that new houses get bought by councils up country. It is a Cornish myth, I have investigated that and it is just not true. I spoke to a senior housing officer in Birmingham, one of the councils which gets cited, and he said if I was going to house people outside Birmingham the last place I would send them is Cornwall because housing is so expensive in Cornwall.
“We need to make sure that all new build properties are made available to local people whether that is market value, affordable rent or affordable to buy. I know there are discussions about what we can do to ensure that happens.”
One of the key things for Mr Double is getting changes in planning rules so that anyone wanting to use a property as a holiday let would have to get planning permission to do so.
“I have now come to the view that we do need some planning controls over holiday accommodation whether holiday lets, Airbnb or second homes. I would favour a planning category for holiday accommodation that if anyone wants to change from full residential use to holiday accommodation they would need change of use in planning. That would enable Cornwall Council to manage the number of properties in any area that are holiday lets and that will manage how many are available for local residents.
“It would give you the basis, if you wanted to, to charge a premium for council tax for that holiday accommodation you would be able to do that.”
And he said that there was a need to get control over the number of homes being used for Airbnb style holiday accommodation.
“Airbnb can play an important role in increasing the amount of accommodation which is provided but clearly my view is that in Cornwall, because of the huge demand. it has got out of hand and it is having a very damaging impact on the housing market and that is what we need to try and manage.”
And the MP said that he expects the current problems to ease later this year: “Although I think we need to work with the govt to put measures in place to make situations improve we are at a particular moment in time and things will cool off anyway.
“This will be the peak demand that Cornwall will ever see for holidays and that will ease off over the next couple of years or so as international holidays return. While I get that it is really challenging at the moment and we are helping people as much as we can which is very difficult, but I think things will improve as we get into the autumn.”
He added: “I think this is impacting Cornwall more than any other part of the country but there are other areas like the Lake District has similar problems, the coast of Norfolk has very similar, and the Yorkshire coast as well. There are a lot of MPs representing those areas who are all experiencing this. We are working together to look at what we want.”
And he said that while housing prices were an issue there was also another side – the low wages in Cornwall which prevent people from accessing homes.
He said: “I was very lucky and bought my first house when I was 18 before properties started to go up rapidly but even at that time you had to be earning a pretty good salary in order to afford it, Anne and I bought the house between us as I would never have done it on my own. We have to be realistic that you have always had to be earning a reasonable level of income in order to buy your own house and it is a challenge, but it has always been one of those things you aspire to and you save, it doesn’t happen immediately for most people and that has always been the case.
“I accept that part of the challenge in Cornwall is lower than average wages and part of the answer isn’t the price of houses but increasing wages. Trying to bring new jobs into Cornwall that will increase wages is the other side of the equation.
“But I also know lots of people who have managed to get onto the housing ladder. The vast majority of new houses are bought by local people so there must be lots of local people who can afford it.
“I am not saying we shouldn’t do anything but I don’t think it’s quite as bad as people suggest. The fact we do see houses built in reasonable numbers in Cornwall people can afford them and it is not people from outside Cornwall it is predominantly people in Cornwall who buy them.”
Derek Thomas, St Ives
The St Ives MP says that housing has always been the top issue in Cornwall for him since he first ran for election in 2015.
And while he agrees with his colleagues that there is a need for steps such as requiring change of use planning permission for holiday lets and second homes he is also critical of how housing has been approached by Cornwall Council.
The Conservative MP is damning with his comments about the former Liberal Democrat and Independent administration at County Hall, accusing them of not using government funding for housing and for allowing council homes to stand empty.
But he says that now the council is controlled by the Conservatives following the May elections he believes that Cornwall’s six Tory MPs will be able to work with the council to tackle the housing issues.
He said: “There is a real issue with Cornwall Housing, which is owned by Cornwall Council, we identified 150 homes that they own that are empty. They have started to do something about that but there are still 125 empty.
“We will not allow a situation where those kind of things happen at Cornwall Council.
“We also found that there was £5million of money that we believe should have been used to support local housing delivery which was provided by the Government which hasn’t been spent. It has just been sat in the council’s bank account.
“We have had it confirmed that is £5m that we can use immediately. There are things like that where you realise we need a transparent approach to housing in Cornwall.”
The St Ives MP, along with his colleagues recognises that demand for properties has spiralled in recent months as a result of more people wanting to relocate to Cornwall and landlords who have decided to use their properties for holiday lets or Airbnbs.
Mr Thomas said that he was asking the Chancellor to help create a level playing field for landlords saying that it costs less in tax to use a property as a holiday let than to use it for a long-term let.
He said that there was a need to make incentives for landlords to allow their homes to be rented by local people rather than to use them as holiday homes.
And he also pointed out the need for landlords of residential properties to undertake Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) in order to let their homes and electrical checks.
He said that while EPCs were important for energy efficiency and for tenants they also added an extra cost for landlords. Both holiday lets and Airbnb properties are not required to have EPCs.
And the MP said that local communities were more likely to accept new housing developments if they know they are going to local people.
He said: “In my constituency in St Ives and Penzance it is really extremely hard to get a property and the rents are high. But you can go to Helston and that isn’t such an issue because in Helston the town has embraced housebuilding and have built huge numbers of houses on the edge of the town.
“In Helston we have seen an example of what should be happening in other towns. I am not saying that house prices are particularly cheaper but you can buy a house much more easily than you can in other parts of my constituency.”
However he is confident that solutions can be found to ease the current problems. “In three years the MPs and council will be able to work together and tackle this much better than before.”
Cherilyn Mackrory, Truro and Falmouth
One Cornish MP has told how she understands the housing crisis after seeing her friends choosing to camp for the summer after finding themselves priced out of the market.
Cherilyn Mackrory, MP for Truro and Falmouth, also said that she was renting her home so could understand the difficulties being faced by some in Cornwall.
And she said it was the main topic of conversation among letters received from constituents.
“It is definitely the number one issue in my inbox and has been for the last few months – we have seen the impact of Covid compounded by a number of other issues. It is a perfect storm really and there have been a number of different reasons for why this has filled my postbag.
“We were preventing evictions during the pandemic and now that has ended we have landlords cashing in on the higher house prices and Airbnb for their properties which has led to tenancies being ended.
“And we also have people who want to relocate to Cornwall now that they have found that they can work remotely. That is the perfect storm as it has led to a lack of available properties in Cornwall.
“This is not a new crisis though but one that has been building over many years and has come to a head because of a number of different factors.”
And she said she had great sympathy for those people who are struggling as a result of what is happening.
“It is awful, I rent so I know how costly it can be and can see how buying property is not possible for a lot of people. If you are a teacher or a nurse it must be completely out of reach.
“I have friends and know families with young children or teenagers who have found themselves being evicted with a few months’ notice and having to find somewhere to rent but there is nothing on the market.
“Some people are deciding to camp, I have friends who have done that, a couple, they just said they would camp in the summer and then look again. People are very resourceful but it shouldn’t come to that.”
The Conservative MP said that Cornwall Council was looking at a number of ways to help ease the current pressure including the provision of more temporary accommodation which was better suited to people than bed and breakfast.
And she said that the council was looking at what finance was available to build new council houses and whether planning rules could be altered to ensure that local parishes can have more input about what housing is needed in their areas.
Cherilyn said she also hoped that the Government would listen to any ideas from Cornwall to help tackle the crisis and devolve powers and responsibilities to Cornwall.
She said: “It is at a point where it is breaking and we need to change it.”
Changes in planning rules are also a common theme amongst Cornwall’s MPs and Cherilyn said that she agreed with her colleagues that homeowners should have to apply for a change of use if using their properties as second homes or holiday homes.
And she said there needed to be a better system to keep track of where second homes are in Cornwall. Previously second home owners were able to claim a discount on council tax which enabled Cornwall Council to have a list of where they were.
However now that discount has been scrapped it is difficult to know where they are and this also includes Airbnb properties which are unregulated.
She said: “If we had that information we could see where the problem areas are and we could manage the situation better.”
One of the key barriers to housing at the moment is affordability with rent prices spiralling and even affordable homes out of reach of many.
At present Cornwall Council sets its affordable rents at 80% of the market rate, but Cherilyn said that it was now looking at dropping that to 50% to ensure that people would be able to pay their rent. However the issue would be funding that change.
She said: “How they do that I don’t know as the developers need to make some money, but if you can cut that rent level it is definitely the way to go. Whether Cornwall Council has to subsidise it to start with, is that something that the council taxpayer is willing to pay or is it something the Government should subsidise?
“But if you can make it work it is definitely what we should do.”
However Cherilyn said that she was not sure that one of the factors, people moving to Cornwall to work remotely, would be a long term trend.
“There are a lot of people who want to move to Cornwall and work from home as they have now realised they can do that. But a lot of people who do move find they can’t live without some of the things they would have such as the theatre and want the city life.
“People like the idea of the country but there will be people who find they want to or have to go back to the city and will realise Cornwall is a stretch too far.”
In the meantime the MP said she wants to continue to press Cornwall Council and the Government to take action to help those in need.
“Hopefully we will see things coming right, but it will take a lot of solutions and time to get this right.”
Scott Mann, North Cornwall
Scott Mann says he wants to see action taken to address the situation and has invited Robert Jenrick, secretary of state for housing, to come to Cornwall and see the problems first hand.
He said: “We must sort out the housing situation. As far as I am concerned we have never known a time that someone rents for £800 or £900 a month in Cornwall, it has got out of proportion.
“We almost have a perfect storm, a lack of supply of homes, an increase in properties being used as Airbnbs and buy to lets and people wanting to live and work more remotely and wanting to move to Cornwall.
“We want Robert Jenrick to come down here and see what is happening here. It is no one single thing which will help tackle this, it is multi-faceted.
“The first thing we should actually consider is to ensure that all planning permissions given in Cornwall are for main residences only and if people want to use properties as holiday homes they will have to apply for a change of use.
“We don’t need a whole programme of housebuilding to meet local demand, we need to go to town and parish councils and find out what the demand is.
“We also need to look at rent levels so that people are able to rent their properties and build a deposit for a mortgage. Rent levels are so high that saving is not possible.
“There does need to be some new homes built but we need to ensure they are genuinely for local people. If people know that houses being built are going to be for locals they are more open to them.
“We have for a council and MPs who want to do something about this. We have an opportunity to get this right. The situation over the last 12 months has got worse, I don’t think anyone is to blame but we need to look at this seriously.”
The North Cornwall MP said that he had received a lot of correspondence from people who were struggling to access suitable housing or facing eviction from their current homes. He said that he was making sure that Government ministers are aware of the problems.
“I do brief Robert Jenrick weekly, I have one on ones with him on particular issues and he is very much aware of the situation that we find ourselves in and is open to the ideas which are coming forward.”
And Mr Mann said that he was also talking with MPs in other parts of the country which are facing similar issues, such as Torbay and other coastal areas.
He said that MPs were joining together in a bid to highlight “a genuine need for change”.