Cornwall housing crisis: Demand doubles for affordable homes

The number of people registering for council homes and affordable housing in Cornwall has more than doubled in less than two years.

Cornwall Council said in March 2020 there were about 9,000 households on its Homechoice Register but the figure was 21,200 by January 2022.

Rents have also risen sharply as the supply of rented housing has reduced.

Approaches to the council from those given eviction notices jumped 89% from 1,143 in 2019 to 2,156 in 2021.

Latest figures for May 2022 show there are now 22,423 households registered on Homechoice.

Some say landlords have deciding to stop renting out their properties and were instead using them as holiday lets, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

The average asking price for rents in Cornwall in March 2022 was £1,048 per month, a 26% increase on the average level in 2019 which was £831.

In March 2022 there were 317 new rental listings on Rightmove in Cornwall, that is 42% less than in March 2019.

In addition the council has revealed that a large number of people who were on housing benefit were now finding their benefits did not cover their accommodation costs.

In August 2021 there were 6,821 households claiming Universal Credit housing entitlements, whose rent was higher than the amount they received in benefits.

To help with this, Cornwall Council funds discretionary housing payments for households and in 2020/21 it spent £1.4m supporting people, including families with children.

The average house price in Cornwall also continues to rise and in March was recorded at £305,969.28 - which is higher than the average across England which stands at £297,523.69.

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