Cornwall housing crisis: Council's Penryn affordable homes plan

The council says there are more than 700 households living in temporary or emergency accommodation, in Cornwall

Three housing schemes in Penryn are to provide 22 new affordable homes for people at risk of homelessness.

The first on New Street, featuring four new-build flats, will see tenants move in "shortly", Cornwall Council said.

A second project involves Stoke House being converted into six flats, with the third to feature six modular house being built on Commercial Road.

Currently, more than 700 households are in temporary or emergency accommodation in Cornwall, the authority said.

Authorities have said the number of people registering for council housing and affordable homes in Cornwall has more than doubled in two years.

The flats in Penryn are part of an overall council scheme that is expected to create 60 homes available on a social rent basis.

The council said it has so far purchased 28 existing properties as part of the programme.

Olly Monk, its portfolio holder for housing and planning, said a "perfect storm" of factors had created an affordability crisis in the county.

He said: "The combination of the impact of the Covid pandemic, the boom in house prices, the reduction in the availability of homes to rent and significant increase in rental costs, has created a perfect storm, leaving many people in Cornwall struggling to find somewhere to live."

In 2022, the council was spending up to £40,000 a day on emergency accommodation for homeless people.

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