RESIDENTS from a seaside town say it has been ruined by ‘greedy’ holiday homeowners – and claim they are being forced to live in budget hotels, caravan parks and tiny flats.
Families in Newquay, Cornwall, argue a shortage in affordable housing combined with a surge in holiday second homes since the pandemic is forcing them into homelessness.
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Meanwhile councillor John Conway alleged this week that council houses are being handed to people living hundreds of miles away.
Cornwall Council denies this is happening in Newquay – one of the country’s most popular seaside resorts with around 5 million visitors a year.
Mum-of-four Kelly Price, 44, her husband Iain Price, 49, and their four children aged 18, 16, 14 and 12, have been trying to find a new home in Newquay.
They lost their private rented home in a no fault eviction in April and have been sharing two bedrooms in a friend’s house in Par.
The pair have applied for dozens of homes without success.
Kelly said: “We are all crammed in with most of our belongings in storage. No one has any privacy so there are lots of arguments.
“The house is in a poor condition but he can’t afford to do it up and there isn’t enough space anyway with us here.”
They were given notice to leave their previous home shortly after Iain had undergone cancer treatment before receiving an all clear.
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And while they count themselves lucky to be able to stay with a friend, they are no longer eligible for Universal Credit.
Kelly says the housing situation in Newquay has worsened since Covid with available flats and houses being snapped up as second homes and kept empty for much of the year.
She said: “I think it is a national problem but does seem worse down here. After lockdown people started switching private rentals to holiday rentals or selling up.
“There are so many second homes down here sat empty 90% of the time which is really frustrating when there are so many people desperately searching for homes.”
Another local, Jessica Redman, 32, was forced out of the private rented flat she had lived in for seven years in March after her landlord decided to sell up.
Jessica and her son, seven, became homeless in March and were forced to move into a single bedroom in a hotel.
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While the room was organised through the council, Jessica’s part-time job in a local school meant she had to pay the full bill of £500 for her stay.
She said: “I just felt like I lost everything. I felt like I was less than nothing. You just think we do your bit for the community and you pay council tax and you’ve literally left with nothing.
“You’re left to fend for yourself. I just think the way the council play it is just so unfair.”
While Jessica and her son have since moved to an apart-hotel run by local charity DISC Newquay, official figures show there are 28,000 people currently in need of housing in the county.
DISC opened the 32-room Grey House two months ago and is already full of working families who can’t afford to live in the town.
Council officials denied outsiders were getting priority.
Louise Wood, Cornwall Council’s service director for planning and housing, said: “I don’t believe it’s true that we are seeing significant amounts of people not from Cornwall in those properties.
“Our policies are strict as far as they can be. The way that we have our Section 106 agreement does prioritise people with a local connection to Cornwall. In fact, some of our restrictions, in terms of the priority we give, are very restrictive.
“Obviously anything that is open market is open market but even then statistically people on new estates tend to have come from the local area. That’s what various bits of research have shown.”
