Next month I will be homeless. Here’s why…
The hushed housing crisis in Cornwall and a concise solution.
I am a software developer. I live in Cornwall, UK. I have a full-time job where I earn a really good salary for someone living in Cornwall (almost double the average). I’m 31 years old.
In March I will be homeless.
Here’s why…
TLDR;
There is a housing crisis in Cornwall.
Proof:
There are:
- 252 whole places to short-term rent on Airbnb
- 22 places to buy on Zoopla
- 1 place to rent on Zoopla
Solution:
We can solve it with one concise regulation:
Short-term rentals can only be operated from your primary residence.
How it works:
Create a licence that is required to be held by short-term rental operators. Stipulate that you can only obtain a licence for your primary residency. Require the license number to be displayed on all short-term rental advertisements.
Make it happen:
Scroll all the way to the bottom to take some easy actions that will help to solve this issue.
The Situation
I’ve been looking for a new place to rent for 3 months now and I’m just about at the point of giving up. My budget is a hefty £1200/month (bills not included) and still, I can’t find a single place to call home. I am a good tenant -actually, I’m a great tenant; but there is simply nowhere to live. I’m being evicted from my current ‘home’ because the landlords can make a lot more money by renting the place out as a holiday let. And to be honest, I can’t blame them — we’re capitalists.
I managed to get a viewing on a property in the adjacent village. The only viewing I’ve been offered so far. The rent was £1200 per month, right at the top end of my budget. The place was perfect, but I got out-bid by another tenant. Outbid on a rental property. I didn’t know that was a thing — to offer over the asking price for a rental! People, including myself, are desperate.
The issue
Airbnb. There, I said it. Short-term rentals are the number one culprit here. There is a perfect storm of homelessness approaching right now and it all falls back to short term rentals.
Cornwall, where I live and was born has been a ‘holiday destination’ for as long as I can remember, and it’s obvious why. We boast beautiful beaches, quaint villages and a relief from the stresses of city life. Though we have our own stresses like trying to get to work on time and getting stuck behind a herd of cattle on the road! We need tourism in Cornwall — there are not many other industries down here. But currently, we’re a little out of balance and the tourism industry, namely short-term rentals, are pushing people away from their communities and causing an imbalance in the housing system.
To prove it, do a search anywhere in Cornwall on Airbnb. Then do the same search for houses to buy on Zoopla. Then do the same search for rental properties on Zoopla.
I’ll do it for you:
At the time of writing this, I’m living in Mithian, and looking for a place to rent around here as I have friends and an allotment here. I’m going to search roughly a 5-mile radius (though it’s a square) and try to stay within the St Agnes parish which is a tiny parish comprising of 5 small villages.
If I search on Airbnb I can find 252 whole places to stay in and around the St Agnes Parish. That’s whole, self-contained places — not bedrooms.
If I search for properties for sale on Zoopla in that same area I find 22 properties. The average (mean) price of these properties is £461,815 which is more than double the mortgage that I can get on my wage 😬.
If I search for rentals on Zoopla in that same area I find 1 property to rent 😳. Yea, just 1. A tiny, unfurnished 2 bed flat for £850 per month.
252 whole places on Airbnb. In a small community that is absolutely devastating. In a big community that’s devastating enough! That’s potentially 200 families that are displaced, forced to live away from the villages that they grew up in.
And that’s just Airbnb. If you look on Booking.com there is a further 126 whole places available for short-term rent. One of which is the place that I am currently living in.
Why?
The rise in ‘staycations’ over the past few years have really put a strain on the place. Covid restricted travelling abroad for a lot of people in the UK, and Cornwall was the place to go for your in-country holiday. This has caused a boom in holiday rentals, as property owners cash in on listing their second, third, or fourth home on Airbnb or Booking.com, and people with a bit of cash invested in properties in Cornwall with the sole objective of listing them as short-term rentals.
You can earn at least £3500 per month on an Airbnb that would otherwise be rented out for £1000 per month. It’s obvious. If I owned a second home, it would be a hard choice to rent it out long term.
I don’t own a second home. I don’t own a first home. I’m playing the renting game, a game that is so vital to our culture. Renting allows people to move out of their family home, to feel independent and empowered, and to save up to one day, maybe, get a mortgage on an actual home. It’s the first step into adulthood and it’s becoming increasingly out of reach.
More and more homes in Cornwall are being purchased by people from all over the country (including other places in Cornwall), with no intention of ever living there. There are stories of houses being purchased for more than their asking price with the buyer never even viewing the property. This has pushed house prices way up, and with the wages being a lot lower in Cornwall than most of the UK, it has prevented people from owning a home.
This has created a greater need for rental properties so people can still live here.
The problem is, these second properties are not being rented out to people long-term. They are being shot-term rented as holiday lets because the income is much greater.
This has created a shortage of homes for local people to actually live in. A real housing crisis.
A solution
I’ve been thinking about this issue for a while now and I truly believe that there is a solution to this issue that should keep all sides of the field happy.
The requirements of the solution:
- Make more houses available to buy as first homes
- Make more houses available for long-term rentals
- Make sure people can still earn an income from their properties, be it a first, second or third ‘home’.
- Make sure Airbnb and the likes can still operate
Who can implement the solution? It has to be the local authorities. Wherever there is more money to be made, individuals will take the opportunity. We live in a capitalist society and that doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon. We can’t rely on people’s ‘goodwill’ to rent a property long-term when the short term rental gains are far greater. That is why we have local authorities. That’s why Cornwall Council exists, and it’s why we have an appointed Councillor in charge of Housing and Planning — Councillor Olly Monk. Cornwall council’s purpose is to ensure (among other things) that people are not going homeless. Councillor Olly Monk’s duties state “Homelessness Prevention”.
Our local authorities need to step in and put restrictions on short-term lettings to prevent mass homelessness in Cornwall.
So what is the solution?
I propose that a single, concise restriction would solve the issue:
Short-term rentals can only be operated from your primary residence.
In reverse:
No short-term rentals on second homes
I’ll pick this apart below…
The Idea
This isn’t an original idea. I witnessed the same housing crisis happen in 2018 when I was living in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Luckily for the city of Vancouver, they have an active, rather than reactive, government that acknowledged the issue before it was too late and passed a bylaw. You can read all about it here. Or check out the cheesyhappysurfacelevel video below.
Vancouver introduced new short-term rental regulations to help protect long-term rental housing while still allowing residents to earn additional income. They stipulated that you must have a licence to operate a short-term rental and that you can only operate a short term rental from your primary residence.
This solved the bulk of the housing crisis. Everyone went back to the beach.
That’s not quite how it happened. It took a lot of planning, a lot of talking, collecting data, and a lot of smart people making a difference for the majority. This is what we need!
How it works
By stipulating that you can only operate a short-term rental from your primary residence, the only options for second property owners will be to either rent out the home on a long-term basis in order for it to be a profitable asset, or sell the property. Capitalism has its perks when you put the right restrictions around it.
This will mean, more properties on the market to buy as first homes, and more long-term rentals available for local people.
The really clever part of the restriction is the fact that you can still short-term let a primary residence. This means that a homeowner can still generate income from their property through holiday lets. It means that, if you own a home, you can rent out an extra room, or that summer house at the end of the garden to supplement your income. It means that tourists still have somewhere to stay, and it means that Airbnb can still operate as it was designed to. B and B — it’s in the name!
Rather than tourists staying in empty houses in empty communities where no one actually lives; tourists will be able to get the true cultural exchange that you expect from a B and B. There will be local people living and working in the area, there will be community and culture once more.
Short-term rentals can only be operated from your primary residence.
It seems so simple.
How it’s enforced
Ok, ok, this all sounds too good to be true… How is it going to work? Well, to steal another idea from Vancouver: licensing.
Introduce a licence that any short-term let property owner has to apply for and hold before they are able to short-term let a property. This license has multiple facets.
Firstly, it serves as the body of the restriction. You can only obtain a licence for your primary residence. We already have checks in place for this — is it your registered address with the NHS, for your driving licence or with your bank? Primary residence is a known and practised concept that would integrate nicely with our current systems.
Secondly, it serves as a register of short term let operators so that any housing regulatory body can check that the property is safe and in rentable condition. Just like you have to for long-term renting. No more free rides for Airbnb hosts. We have renting standards and regulations for a reason.
As a bonus, the Council could add a cost to obtaining a license. Some minimal charge that makes it worth getting and makes the council some extra dosh (they love that).
And how do we check that short-term let operators actually have a license? Well, it’s much easier than knocking door-to-door and deducing if someone is using a property as a short term let.
Stipulate that you must display your licence number on any advertisement for a short term let and have a juicy fine for those who don’t. You need to advertise your short-term let publically enough so that people book it, so I can’t imagine it would be too hard for the Council to find and check for a licence number — just check the listings on Airbnb and Booking.com to cover 90% of the ads. And if the fine is large enough, it’s in the Council’s interest to find anyone who doesn’t display a valid licence on the ad. More dosh for the Council (did I say, they love that?).
Again:
Short-term rentals can only be operated from your primary residence.
How do we make this happen?
Well, unfortunately, our government, in general, seems to be reactive. So we need to create a movement for them to react to. Here are a few actions that I’ve tried to make as easy as possible.
Please take action. If you’re passionate about this issue, if you are looking for a rental, if you know someone looking for a rental, if you have kids that one day want to live in Cornwall, or if you value Cornish community, make it your duty to do one of these things.
I’ve done all the hard work. Just take 2 minutes and click a couple of links.
I’ll go easiest to hardest:
1: Give this article a clap. Or as many claps as you can bear to clap. It helps to bump it up the medium algorithm and it will, in turn, be suggested to and read by more people.
2: Share this article. Click that little share symbol and send the article to someone you know or post it on Facebook.
3: Comment on this article to show your support. Click the comment button and tell me what you think. Even if it’s just a thumbs up or thumbs down emoji. It helps!
4. Follow @firstnotsecondhomes on Instagram and engage with them on Facebook. They are an action group that is bringing awareness to this issue.
5: Send me an email and I’ll let you know when things are happening. Just click that link and hit send, I’ve written it for you already.
6: Email Councilor Olly Monk. I’ve composed an email for you — just click that link and hit send.
Together we can make a huge difference to our beautiful county.
✌️
Kernow bys vyken. Onen hag oll.
Cornwall forever. One and all.
