Cornwall tourist rage: Woman claims she will be made homeless – ‘no homes left’

Simon Calder says Briton’s will have to 'work’ for a holiday

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Jasmin Or, 24, said there were “no homes left” as everything had been turned into an Airbnb. The St Ives local said staycationing tourists had caused a crisis.

Hotel worker, Jasmin has turned to TikTok to share her plight. She said she had exhausted letting agents’ options and spare room sites.

She now fears she could be homeless in three weeks as her tenancy is due to end on May 10.

Jasmin said: “I’m wondering if this place will seem as beautiful to me when I’m sleeping on a bench in three weeks.

“There’s no homes left. Everything’s been turned into second homes now and that’s the issue.

“They’re all Airbnbs and a lot of locals have been driven out of their homes now to accommodate for the summer.”

The hotel worker currently pays £800 without bills for a room in a two-bedroom house and has no family home to return to.

She said: “I’ve watched a lot of my friends struggle with homelessness, friends in my age group who work a lot harder than I do.

“They all sofa surf, it’s not just myself.”

Cornwall Council has said the rate of imbalance in supply and demand for housing has never been so bad.

Demand for second homes in seaside towns soared during lockdown with some people opting to purchase in Cornwall.

St Ives is one of Cornwall’s most popular seaside towns and rental properties on Airbnb often charge high prices.

Cornwall Council paid almost £170 million in Covid grants to Cornish holiday let businesses.

Many second home owners can qualify for business rates and avoid paying council tax so do not contribute to the local area.

Jasmin urged tourists to consider holidaying elsewhere in the country to help with the housing crisis.

A spokesperson at Cornwall Council said: “The Council is taking a multi-faceted approach to address the housing crisis in the medium term and moving on into the future.

“This plan will involve more than £300m of potential investment. We are working to get the legislative changes we need at Parliament to be able to control the number of second homes

“And give us the ability to set a Council Tax surcharge against those homes. The Council has proposed to the Government that planning permission should be needed to turn a home into a second residence or holiday let.

“And the authority should be able to charge double Council Tax on second homes. The lack of decent affordable housing that residents are experiencing all over Cornwall has been exacerbated by the pandemic.”

It added that private landlords were moving away from long-term lets into short term Airbnb letting.

It said it had made a number of home purchases to turn into social housing in the area.

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