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Explosion in holiday lets is strangling rural communities, new CPRE research shows
A surge in the number of homes marketed for Airbnb-style short-term lets is crippling the residential rentals market, new research shows.
The problem is most acute in staycation hotspots, where hundreds of homes previously available to rent to local people have been switched to short-stay holiday rentals. The worsening housing crisis – which is particularly acute in rural areas – has seen thousands of families added to social-housing waiting lists.
A steep decline in the number of new social-housing projects completed since 2013 is compounding the problem.
That is why CPRE, the countryside charity, is calling for tighter controls on second-home ownership, including higher council tax on second homes and the requirement for short-term lets to have planning permission.
Additionally, the definition of ‘affordable’ must be changed in national planning policy, with rents being tied to local incomes rather than market prices. To level up our rural communities, changes to planning law and policy should be committed to in the government’s forthcoming Planning Bill, requiring at least one new genuinely affordable home for every market home built.
Alex Macintyre, 37, from Plymouth, was evicted by her landlord because he would make more money listing her flat on Airbnb.
“I lived in my last flat for five years until the landlord decided to renovate and do the place up to perfection so he could rent it out on Airbnb,” said Alex.
“Plymouth has become a city of holiday lets. Fewer homes available for residents means higher rents, and people being priced out of their local areas in search of a home. That erodes local communities and starves local businesses of workers. The only people who benefit are the landlords.”
In many areas, social-housing waiting lists could be drastically reduced or even eliminated if the number of properties advertised for short-term let were available for local families instead, the analysis shows.
• In Cornwall, which saw short-term listings grow 661 per cent in the five years to September 2021, there are some 15,000 families on social-housing waiting lists and the same number of properties being marketed as holiday lets
• In South Lakeland, which saw a 1,231 per cent increase in short-term listings between 2016-20, about half the families in need of social housing could be accommodated in properties exclusively available for holiday rentals
• In Cumbria, a 4 per cent decline in the number of privately-rented properties coincided with a 14 pe cent increase in families on social-housing waiting lists since 2016
• In Devon, short-term lets appear to be worsening an existing housing crisis, with almost 4,000 homes taken out of private rent and 11,000 added to short-term listings since 2016
Crispin Truman, chief executive of CPRE, the countryside charity, said: “Across our most traditional rural communities, from the beaches of Cornwall to the lakes of Cumbria, homes that used to be rented to local families sit empty for much of the year.
“More people are pushed on to social-housing waiting lists, which have been stretched to breaking point by years of underinvestment. Hard-working people are suffering and they will not easily forgive a government that promised to level them up if it leaves them falling through the cracks of a broken system.
“It’s clear the government needs to act fast to avert a growing housing crisis. With the cost of living set to hammer people’s finances in the coming year, this is a problem that’s quickly getting out of hand. There simply has to be a government response to the fact that our rural-housing supply is disappearing into an unregulated short-term rentals market that simply didn’t exist six years ago.
“Ministers must introduce tighter controls on second-home ownership, including higher council tax on second homes and the requirement for short-term lets to have planning permission.”
Separate analysis by CPRE found the demand for social housing was growing almost six times faster than the rate of supply in rural areas. At current rates, the backlog of low-income families needing accommodation would take 121 years to clear.
Figures show 8,898 households were added to social-housing waiting lists in 88 rural local authority areas between 2019-20, the last year for which figures are available, with just 1,453 social homes delivered. In total, 176,058 rural families were waiting for accommodation in 2020, up from 167,160 in 2019.
Selaine Saxby, Conservative MP for North Devon, said: “We need to make the long-term rental market more sustainable and attractive. We cannot rely on building ever more homes if they are not going to be lived in by local residents.
“Our excellent housing associations in North Devon do great work in building modern affordable homes, but they will not be able to keep up with demand if the balance between short-term and long-term private rental markets is not restored.”
Monday, January 17, 2022
- A number of important documents have yet to emerge. For example, a rigorous transport plan and a finalised air-quality assessment. The latter is critical given that allocations at Teynham will feed extra traffic into AQMAs.
- There seems to be no coherent plan for infrastructure delivery – a key component of the plan given the allocations being proposed near the already crowded Junction 7.
- There seems to have been little or no cooperation with neighbouring boroughs or even parish councils within Swale itself.
The removal of a second consultation might have been understandable if this final version of the plan were similar to that being talked about at the beginning of the consultation process. It is, however, radically different in the following ways:
- There has been a major shift in the balance of housing allocations, away from the west of the borough over to the east, especially around the historic town of Faversham. This is a move that raises many concerns.
- A new large allocation, with accompanying A2 bypass, has appeared around Teynham and Lynsted, to which we are objecting.
- Housing allocations in the AONB around Neames Forstal that were judged “unsuitable” by the council’s own officers have now appeared as part of the housing numbers.
- Most of the housing allocations being proposed are on greenfield sites, many of them on Grade 1 agricultural land – a point to which we are strongly objecting.
Concerns about the rush to submit the plan
The haste with which the plan is being prepared is especially worrying given the concentration of housing in Faversham. If the town is to take a large amount of new housing, it is imperative that the policies concerning the area are carefully worked out to preserve, as far as possible, the unique nature of the town. The rush to submit the plan is likely to prove detrimental.
As Swale does not have a five-year land housing supply, it is open to speculative development proposals, many of which would run counter to the ideas contained in the current plan. Some are already appearing. This is a common situation, and one that, doubtless, is a reason behind Swale’s haste.
Our overriding fear, however, is that this emphasis on haste is ultimately going to prove counterproductive. This is because it is our view that the plan, in its current form, is unlikely to pass independent examination. We are urging Swale to listen to and act upon the comments being made about the plan and to return the plan to the council with appropriate modifications before submitting it to the Secretary of State.
Essentially, this means treating the current consultation not as the final one but as the ‘lost’ second consultation.
The consultation ends on Friday 30 April and we strongly urge residents to make their opinions known if they have not already done so.
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