The Guardian reports from key workers to bar staff, parts of county increasingly off limits as landlords and investors cash in

Some of those who have been evicted are living in camper vans, caravans, even on boats. There are families who have been booted out of their homes crammed together in holiday park chalets or single rooms while others have had no choice but to give up and leave the area completely.

The dramatic rise of short-term holiday lets in Woolacombe and neighbouring villages and towns in north Devon is causing hardship, heartache and anger as landlords and investors cash in and local people are squeezed out.

“It’s really dire,” said Emma Hookway, a founder of the North Devon and Torridge Housing Crisis campaign group. “I constantly come across people in tears after they have been kicked out of rented accommodation because landlords want to turn places into holiday lets.”

Hookway, a 43-year-old cleaner, began the group after she and her young son were forced to leave their rented house. They eventually found a flat above a working men’s club.

“It felt soul-destroying moving back into a small flat in my 40s. But I had to suck it up and now I realise that, actually, we are the lucky ones.

“Tourism here has boomed, especially since Covid. Landlords who were making £1,000 a month renting to a tenant can make that in a week now and investors are snapping up properties to make money out of them. It’s easy money for them.”

Renting out through Airbnb in the area is lucrative. But there is, undoubtedly, a price to pay for the community.

Another member of the campaign group, Graham Bell, who works at a local hospital, said key workers were being forced out. “We lose nurses and teachers who grew up here because they can’t find anywhere to live. They move to Exeter, Bristol or further afield. Families are being pushed into holiday parks, hotels, B&Bs. Children are having to sit their exams while living in caravan parks. Education and life chances are being affected.”

The feel of the place is changing. Locals say they cannot afford the “London prices” charged in many pubs, bars and restaurants and there are frequently complaints about the behaviour of short-let visitors.

The council’s chief executive, Ken Miles, has been busy drafting a report in response to the UK government’s call for evidence on holiday lets. The draft report says the council is “particularly concerned about community cohesion in areas where there is a high intensity of short-term holiday lets”.

Examples Miles cites include a primary school struggling to maintain enough pupil numbers to remain viable and he points out a road in Georgeham where only one dwelling is occupied in the winter. “Communities cannot be sustained with that level of holiday use,” the draft report says.

It goes on to highlight the case of a senior college worker in north Devon who has to live 40 miles away and an employee of a local care home who had to give up her job when she was evicted.

The report says that in recent years “the nature of the tourist accommodation offer has changed with the rise in prominence of sites such as Airbnb”. It suggests consideration of a licensing scheme for holiday lets and perhaps the requirement to apply for planning consent for change of use where residential premises are converted to holiday lets to allow more control.

Malcolm Wilkinson, the council’s lead member for coastal communities and a resident of Woolacombe for half a century, said there was some good news. A community land trust has been formed to build 21 affordable homes for local people next to the village hall. “We hope that will help a little,” he said.

Full article:

The Guardian - Hardship and heartbreak as Devon families lose homes to Airbnb lets

North Devon District Council is a member of the Rural Services Network. You can find out more about them at this link.