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0:02 AM, 6th November 2023, About 6 months ago 1
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Idyllic towns in England are being overrun by second homeowners and holiday lets with some towns declaring a housing crisis because local people have nowhere to live.
Frome in Somerset is just one of several towns to declare a crisis because locals are being priced out of the market due to soaring rents.
This Property118 investigation takes a look at why these picturesque towns are experiencing a housing crisis.
Earlier this year, Frome council declared a housing crisis due to rents soaring to nearly £1,500 a month, which is 50% of the average salary.
The national media has been blamed for making the town ‘high-profile’ and contributing to its popularity as it encouraged more Londoners to move to the area.
Councillor Polly Lamb said housing supply issues are causing huge problems in the Somerset area.
She said: “Here in Frome, there are over 600 households currently on the social housing list, and only 49 homes have become available in the last six months – which sounds like a lot but that leaves 551 households in a very vulnerable position.
“This also pushes up demand for private rentals, as there are simply not enough houses in the rental market and pushes up prices for all.
“To add to this Frome is also a desirable place to live, which can mean bidding wars for the few private rental properties that become available. This can favour people moving from elsewhere as wages are low in Somerset.”
Ms Lamb added that Frome does not have enough affordable homes which has pushed up rental prices.
She said: “There is simply not enough good safe and secure housing in the rental market. The right to buy has destabilised the housing market, taking housing out of the social housing stock, meaning that more people enter the private rental market which in turn has pushed up prices.
“Using houses as commodities rather than homes for the last 40 years has had a devastating effect on safe and secure housing in Frome.”
Devon declared a housing crisis in 2021, with a lack of rental properties thought to be preventing key workers from moving to the area and local people moving elsewhere due to being priced out of the properties available to rent or buy.
Local councils in Devon recently voted to adopt new powers from the government, which will allow them to double council tax for empty and second homes.
Devon County Council believes a major cause of the long-term rental shortage is owners converting properties into short-term holiday lets.
The number of second homes and short-term lets in Devon continue to soar. According to North Devon council, almost half of properties are second homes and holiday lets.
The council says the rise over the past three years has led to at least 435 homes being changed from permanent residential use to holiday lets – a figure which could be higher as it is claimed many properties are not registered.
The situation has led to a new Devon Housing Task Force has been established to try and tackle the housing crisis in the county.
Experts, councillors and MPs from across Devon will develop recommendations to address the broken housing market.
The leader of Devon County Council, John Hart, chairs Team Devon and will be one of the commissioners.
He said: “Devon is in the midst of a serious housing crisis with a real shortage of homes to let and high prices for local people who want to buy a home.
“We must do all we can to enable local people to live and work in their local communities and be close to their families and friends if they want to.”
He added: “The shortage and high cost of housing is also having a real impact on the ability of businesses, social care and organisations like the NHS to recruit staff and that has a serious effect on our economy and our capacity to look after our people.”
Big cities such as Leicester have also declared a housing crisis.
Leicester city council is calling for urgent action from the government to ease the pressure caused by the growing demand for affordable housing.
Leicester’s assistant city mayor for housing, Cllr Elly Cutkelvin, said: “Central government have failed to deliver their social housing build target for over 50 years.
“There has not been a proper programme of social house building since the end of the Second World War.
“Government funding mechanisms and planning legislation make it difficult for local authorities to mitigate against the loss of housing stock through the Government’s Right to Buy scheme, leaving us with significantly reduced council house stock levels.”
She added: “In 2015, the government lifted the borrowing cap which has enabled us to borrow money to build council homes, but we are competing against large corporate developers which are driven by profit.
“With the construction industry on its knees, it looks impossible for us to respond to the housing crisis swiftly – we need the government to create the right circumstances for a mass programme of social house building.”
However, local people in some areas of the country have had enough of the situation and have taken matters into their own hands.
Residents in Burnham Market in Norfolk, for example, which has been dubbed ‘Chelsea-on-Sea’ recently voted to ban people from buying second homes there.
Locals in the area complained of London second homeowners snapping up properties in the area leaving residents struggling to afford homes.
The local council estimates one in four properties in Burnham Market are now second homes.
More than 635 local people voted in the referendum last month with more than 80% of residents voting in favour of the ban of second homes.
The proposal will now become part of the village plan and will be consulted on by West Norfolk Council when it considers planning applications.
Dennis Clark, chairman of Burnham Market Parish Council, told GB News he hoped the result of the referendum would help address local housing needs.
He said: “We know we cannot change everything overnight, but we also know that the borough council now have to reflect the requirements of the villagers, which is quite important really, because many of the politicians have talked about ‘we will let communities look after themselves and decide which way they are going’, but they never really manage that.
“I do want to stress that all we are trying to do is get a balance. We don’t want to discourage people from coming here, we certainly don’t want to discourage visitors.”
He added: “But we want to encourage lower-cost housing so that the people who work here can live here. We need young people to be able to stay here to keep the village vibrant.”
Frome, Devon and Burnham Market are just the tip of the iceberg in a nationwide crisis of skyrocketing rents and housing shortages.
As the housing crisis worsens a balance will need to be found to keep these towns idyllic and welcoming to locals as well as tourists.
Reluctant Landlord
17:19 PM, 6th November 2023, About 6 months ago
I wish these councils would ask themselves WHY people are moving to short term lets rather than just going on about the numbers. If you knew the reason why you could do something about it (if you wanted to).
My feeling is they dont want to know the real reason and even less inclined to do anything about it. Just keep bleating about it being the governments problem to deflect away from yourselves....
Local council solution is easy therefore - just keep taxing existing long term let LL's (who pass cost on to sitting tenant and make their life harder) and double/triple/quadrouple council tax on second home owners.
This is apprently the eureka solution that will render more accommodation to be released for long term let immediately while they get on building more social housing themselves.....