Gwynedd second-home tax hike plan to tackle housing 'crisis'

Even the beach huts in Abersoch are hot property, with one selling for £153,000 in 2016

Council tax could be doubled on second homes in Gwynedd to help fund a £77m plan to provide 1,500 affordable homes.

Gwynedd Council cabinet members backed a bid to tackle a housing "crisis".

A report told them 60% of Gwynedd residents were priced out of the housing market with one in 10 homes now designated as second homes.

The council also wants to close a business-use loophole where owners avoid paying council tax at all if the property is let for 70 days a year.

Gwynedd's popularity as a tourist destination is such that a dilapidated beach hut in Abersoch sold for £153,000 in 2016.

The housing action plan - which will go out to consultation - would be paid for by £22.9m from a second-home council tax premium as well as grants and £15.4m worth of loans, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Craig ab Iago, responsible for housing, told a cabinet meeting on Tuesday the plan was one of the "best things the council has done in years", hoping work could begin next year.

"We know that our young people face a greater challenge than ever to find a suitable home locally," he said.

"Put simply, it is a crisis and I'm determined to see us delivering a real change."

The council receives between 80 and 90 homelessness submissions each month.

The plan aims to bring:

• Another 500 affordable homes to buy or let to local people.

• A total of 600 new social homes for rent, including buying back more than 100 ex-council houses and grants to bring 250 empty properties back into use.

• About 150 rooms for homeless people including temporary accommodation and 130 new rooms of supported housing for people who are elderly, have disabilities or are otherwise vulnerable.

Councillor Nia Jeffreys added: "We have long known and experienced first hand in Porthmadog the crisis in housing.

"However, that so many local people are priced out of the market is shocking."

The Welsh Government's housing minister Julie James has said she will make a statement to the Senedd in January on measures to tackle the issue of housing in rural and tourist areas.