Man slept in graveyard amid Cornwall housing crisis

Chris Davies said Cornwall Council should do more to "prevent the spread of second homes"

A man who slept in a tent in a graveyard in Cornwall for months has said the council should invest in more social housing.

Chris Davies said that despite earning a good wage and having a deposit at the time he was made homeless, he could not find anywhere to live in Cornwall.

Mr Davies, 51, said he believed more affordable homes were urgently needed.

Cornwall Council said the county continued to experience "extreme and unprecedented pressures" on housing.   

Camborne Church said the poorest had been hit hardest by the housing crisis

Mr Davies was born in Penzance and worked as an assistant site manager in the building trade until four years ago.

He said everything changed when his girlfriend died suddenly and he had to leave the home they had shared as "I wasn't entitled to live there".

He said there was "no way I could get a flat" because "I would say about 80% of them were taken up" with holiday lets.

He said he ended up homeless and, as a result, could not continue to work.

Mr Davies said Cornwall Council should do more to "prevent the spread of second homes".

He said he had spent the last four years with his 12-year-old dog, Max, in and out of temporary accommodation and sofa-surfing, as well as living in a tent in the grounds of Camborne Church.

Mr Davies said he understood that people did not like the tents, but people had nowhere else to go

The churchyard currently has five occupied tents in it.

Mr Davies said: "Quite a lot of people don't like the tents here, which is understandable. It's a lovely space, but where else is there to go?"

Rev Graham Adamson, Rural Dean of Camborne Church, said the parish had been working closely with agencies to find accommodation for those living in the grounds.

"The sad fact is that the housing crisis has hit the poorest the hardest," he added.

Cornwall Council said it was "very sympathetic" to those finding it difficult to find somewhere to live.

It said: "In the last three years, the number of households in need of emergency accommodation has increased by around 200% to 857, while the number of households on our social housing register has more than doubled to around 25,000. "

'Never a scrounger'

Mr Davies said he was now living in supported accommodation provided by Coastline Housing, but it would be impossible for him to afford to pay the rent if he did not have benefits.

"If I had a council flat I could go back to work and start contributing again. That's actually what I would love to do," he said.

"I don't want to be a dole scrounger. I have never been one. A little one-bedroom flat for me and Max and I could go back to work".

A spokesperson for Coastline, an independent Cornish charitable housing association, which manages 5,000 homes, said staff supported people "to help them get to the point where they can sustain their own tenancy".

The government said it wanted to "end rough sleeping and prevent homelessness before it occurs"

They added: "There is an issue nationally, particularly acute in Cornwall, that there are very few homes for people to move on to from supported housing."

Cornwall Council said it had agreed to adopt a policy to charge double council tax on second homes and welcomed government moves to give local authorities the power to limit the number of homes being flipped from long-term private rentals to holiday lets.     

It said: "Recent projects include new modular homes, buying and refurbishing disused properties and providing dedicated 'move on' accommodation to support former rough sleepers to help people find settled, permanent homes."

The authority added it was building more council housing to add to the stock of 10,300 council houses.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: "We want to end rough sleeping and prevent homelessness before it occurs.

"That's why we are spending over £1bn over three years through the Homelessness Prevention Grant, of which Cornwall is receiving £4.5m."