Hundreds of Skye jobs vacant due to homes shortage

Up to 1,700 jobs across Skye and Lochalsh will sit vacant this year because workers cannot find a home in the area, according to new research.

The Skye Business Housing Needs Study, described as the biggest of its kind, suggested a lack of affordable housing was worse than previously thought.

More than 140 local businesses - with 78% of them involved in tourism or hospitality - responded.

Two in five businesses reported having recruitment problems.

The work was commissioned by SkyeConnect with support from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Lochalsh and Skye Housing Association and Highland Council.

According to the study, 29% of businesses had offered a job to someone who had later decided not to take the role. Accommodation issues were mentioned in 50% of these cases.

One in five people employed in the businesses were found to live outside Skye and Lochalsh, and one in four did not live in their own home.

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The research also suggested 25% of businesses expected the number of positions they needed to fill to increase over the next three years.

Bosses warned of the risk of "burn out" among existing staff because they were often required to worker harder or longer shifts.

The study said people looking to buy "affordable" housing on Skye still had to be able to get a mortgage of between £170,000 and £200,000, and find a substantial deposit.

Researchers said given average wages in the area, this was unachievable for many people.

Skye and Lochalsh, which is an area of the west Highland mainland, is home to about 13,140 people.

'Popular destination'

SkyeConnect director Clare Winskill said recruitment problems were expected to get worse.

She said: "Pre-pandemic the Skye and Lochalsh economy was buoyant attracting visitors, both domestic and international, whose experience of our beautiful area was positive and who wished to return.

"Post pandemic, new and existing businesses are really struggling to service demand in the tourism sector - even though that demand has not as yet returned to pre-pandemic levels.

"There is no confidence that the extreme recruitment issues will abate.

"We are looking at a significant contraction of our economy here if the rapid building of affordable housing - that will allow recruitment and retention of a workforce - does not take place."

Neil Clapperton, chief executive of the Lochalsh and Skye Housing Association, said: "If Skye and Lochalsh is to function as a popular tourist destination, if its communities are to have an economic future, and rural economic diversification is to have any meaning, it needs a smart, collaborative and flexible approach to affordable housing, and we need a lot of it, and now."

Armadale Castle and Gardens said it has had staffing problems because properties on Skye were so expensive.

The business' Fiona MacKinnon said: "It's so hard to find accommodation for them."