Farmers Weekly and Cornwall Live report on new data revealing how rural families are being deprived of housing by a 1,000% surge in the number of short-term lets and holiday properties, according to countryside charity CPRE

The findings revealed how 148,000 homes stand empty for large parts of the year – most of them in staycation hotspots.

About half the families on waiting lists for social housing in the area could be homed if the holiday rentals were available on the property market, the spokesperson suggested.

In Cornwall, where short-term lets grew by 661% to 15,000 over the five-year period, all of the 15,000 waiting families could be housed.

Full article:

Farming Weekly - Rural families struggle to find homes as holiday lets surge

Cornwall Live - Holiday lets 'are strangling rural communities' in Cornwall