First homes, not second homes: how the housing crisis in Cornwall affects locals

We all know there is a housing crisis in Cornwall. We accept that basic fact as a starting point, but what does it mean for everyday folk – and, more importantly, what can we do about it? My family and I were evicted from our secure, affordable home. I don’t blame our landlords. They weren’t one of the many flipping long-term rentals to Airbnb, but their circumstances changed, and they needed to move back into their property.

This was before the pandemic and the turbo-charging of our housing market in Cornwall and the South West. Yet finding a property within our affordability range and where we needed to be was extremely challenging. Thanks to the mass sell-off of council housing stock, the hope of being fortunate enough to get a council property was quickly dashed as we were told we’d be moved away from our community and support network, which wasn’t an option for us.

Our story isn’t unusual. It is echoed across Cornwall. A cursory search on social media reveals heartbreaking stories of families forced out of their homes and into unsuitable, overpriced housing, or forced to move away from the communities in which they have lived their entire lives – causing further fracture to Cornish communities and identity. The difference in recent years is that this housing crisis is not just affecting those most vulnerable: those with disabilities, families without financial reserves, single people have always struggled with housing here. But now it affects everyone: doctors, nurses, train drivers, teachers – those who, for Cornwall, earn a decent wage are unable to find a place to call home.

This is leading to a crisis in staffing that affects us all. Even those who purchased properties when prices were linked to the wages people earned are seeing the pain this causes; their children and grandchildren are paying the price. Insecure and unaffordable housing has an impact on so much – families are fractured and have had to move to more affordable areas of the country, their elderly relatives have no one close to help them, causing more pressure on adult social care services.

Industries fail to employ staff who cannot afford to live nearby on the wages they earn. And the children of Cornwall grow up not knowing what a secure and safe home feels like. The pressure on parents to pay ever-spiralling rents, higher than national average water bills, the rising cost of energy and rising food costs all have an effect on our children. Parents do their utmost to protect their children from these realities, but the stress that those parents are under will undoubtedly filter down.

Like many in Cornwall, I have no burning desire to own a property, but I do have a burning desire to feel secure. Many people say the same: we want to feel safe, we want our rent to be a reflection of the real-life earnings of the area, and we want to know the place we call home today won’t be whipped out from under our feet. It is hard to put down roots and make a house a home when you never know if your landlord is going to serve a Section 21 (no-fault eviction) so they can maximise profits and flip a home to a holiday let.

There are ways to do all of this, but until we have proper devolution for Cornwall, allowing us to make our own decisions, we need the Labour Party to lead the way and pressure this Conservative government to do the right thing. It is clear our six Tory MPs and Conservative-led Cornwall Council are not going far enough or fast enough to deal with the crisis. This is why the Labour group on Cornwall Council have joined Luke Pollard MP for our ‘first homes, not second homes’ campaign. It’s a great starting point – but we need more, not just for Cornwall but for the whole country.

The system is not working – everyone knows and accepts that. Simply tinkering around the edges won’t resolve the baked-in problems. We need to change the system at its core and make housing in Cornwall work for Cornish residents.