UK seaside town so full of empty second homes that locals are 'forced to live in car park'
This seaside town is popular with Brits looking for a short getaway, but has been overrun with holiday homes as locals are priced out of the area.
Locals in a popular UK seaside town have been left living in car parks as second-home owners snap up properties in the area.
Newquay in Cornwall has long been a British favourite for families looking for a short beach getaway come summer time. But its popularity has led to a rise in the number of holiday homes propping up each year, with locals left struggling to meet ends meet.
Prince William recently announced a £3million scheme to build 24 new homes for homeless people in Nansledan, a new estate on the edge of Newquay.
It comes as 27,000 signed up for council housing in the area, with some blaming second home owners for the rise in homelessness.
Speaking to The Sun, Maddie Tyers, 54, who is living out of a van with her two huskies, said rising rent costs and an increase in holiday lets has left dozens of locals priced out. She said: "The rent is the first thing I think about. Because if I don’t pay it I’m homeless again. Everything else comes after and if I can’t afford food then I can’t afford food."
Homelessness is on the rise in Cornwall, with charity St Petrocs supporting 695 people sleeping rough last year - up more than a third compared with 2022.
Cornish-born Jacey Peacock, 29, added that it was hard to find a house to rent with hundreds appearing on the likes of Airbnb.
She said: "I’m Cornish born and bred, I rent a one-bed flat in Newquay with my partner for £680 per month but there is no way we can afford to buy a house. If we had the money or not, the difficulty is finding one which isn’t already an Airbnb.
"Things have gotten worse since the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of people came down and realised how beautiful it is so wanted to live here.
"Second homes make it a lot harder for us. We see the community of Newquay every day doing what they can to get by. To see people you know struggling, it affects you."
It is hoped that the Duchy of Cornwall's new scheme will help some of the most vulnerable, but some fear it won't be enough.
A Cornwall Council spokesman said: "We are sympathetic towards those who are finding it difficult to find somewhere settled to live as Cornwall continues to experience extreme and unprecedented pressures on housing due to an imbalance in housing supply and demand.
"Nationally, there has been a significant reduction in the availability of homes to rent and a matched sudden escalation in rental costs exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis.
"In the last three years, the number of households in need of emergency accommodation has increased by around 224 per cent to around 850 while the number of households on our social housing register has more than doubled to around 27,000.
"There is a high demand for accommodation which includes our own housing stock, properties that we rent, or other accommodation.
"The steps we have taken include the provision of emergency temporary accommodation so that fewer residents are housed in B&Bs or hotels.
"But we’re also working to provide housing through investment in our own stock of accommodation – recent projects include new modular homes, buying and refurbishing disused properties and providing dedicated ‘move on’ accommodation to support former rough sleepers to help people find settled, permanent, homes.
"We are reviewing our offer to private landlords to help keep people in their homes in the private sector.
"We’re building more ‘council housing’ to add to the stock of 10,300 council houses in Cornwall and have bought open market homes to convert into affordable housing for local people in need. We’re also working with developers, local communities, and partners to identify suitable sites. "
