Second homes: Tenby rappers vent second home frustration

The Mills brothers have taken to rap to vent their frustration

It is an idyllic seaside resort with pastel-coloured houses where thousands flock in summer.

But some young people from Tenby, Pembrokeshire, have turned to rap to vent their frustration at being priced out by second homes and holiday lets.

Will and Niall Mills' music describes the "collapse" of the working class community in the town.

The Welsh government said it was taking "immediate and radical action" to protect communities.

Pembrokeshire council said it was using second home levies to develop "community-led housing development".

"We don't live in Center Parcs. We don't live in Butlin's, this is a town. It has schools, it has GP surgeries," said Will Mills.

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The 27-year-old is rapping in his mum's spare room in Pentlepoir, on the outskirts of Saundersfoot.

"If you've got two homes then you need one less."

His sister, who works for the council, has had to leave her flat and move in and her possessions are in boxes around him as he raps a track from his EP.

It means when Will or his siblings are home they have to share a room with his mum while his dad, a business owner in Tenby, lives in a room in a shared house.

"There is a level of anxiety that you could be made homeless within six months and I see that all the time," he said.

The council's waiting list for social housing has increased to 5,400 and it said the number of people coming to the authority who were homeless had also increased.

Will and Niall have produced protest T-shirts

Will and his identical twin brother Niall believe second homes and holiday lets are pricing families like theirs out of Tenby and they have turned to music, placards and protest T-shirts to try and raise awareness.

Their music both draws on their experiences of being part of a community they feel is being displaced.

"People will walk down the street and listen to it, put their headphones in then that's gonna go way further," he said.

Will and Niall's obituary T-shirts have been sold to people in coastal towns around the UK who object to the often lower wages in rural areas, compared to high rents and housing shortages.

"What people forget is in purchasing a second home and having two homes you are responsible in some way or another for displacing a family," he said.

The average house price in Wales increased by 11.7% last year, compared to 15% in Pembrokeshire, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The average price of a home in the county has risen to £229,882.

Will acknowledged the area needed tourism, but questioned "what's the point of bringing money into a community that I can't live in?

"I think that there's also this misconception that second home owners bring all this money into the town and we're on our hands and knees waiting for this money to come in."

After Gwynedd, latest figures show Pembrokeshire has the second highest number of registered second homes in Wales, and it has increased 15% since last June.

In Tenby, even businesses dependent on tourism are feeling the strain.

Ebony Lindsay, 26, manages The Dennis Café, or Den's as it is known locally.

It has been in her family for 35 years, but they have never experienced anything like their current staffing shortages.

Ebony said it was because people could no longer afford to live near the town, and especially not on local wages in hospitality.

"Most of my friends don't live down here anymore or they move into Cardiff, or have moved to London because that's where the jobs are for that and then also they can actually find somewhere to live."

To compensate she and her father regularly work 74-hour weeks.

Neither her, her father or her aunt can afford to buy or rent in Tenby as they are "local people who do it just to take home a normal wage".

Ebony is trying to buy a house, but said it was impossible as wealthy buyers offered cash above the asking price.

She wants to see local people given priority on purchases and rentals, saying homes need to be occupied year-round to keep businesses going in the off-season.

"Even though the second home owners and holiday lets think they're bringing the money into the town, they're necessarily not because their houses are vacant the majority of the time," she said.

"The winter is bleak in Tenby now, because there's no one here every house has got no lights on no-one lives there."

The second homes premium councils can charge will increase to 300% from April 2023 after changes made by the Welsh government and Plaid Cymru under their co-operation agreement.

Pembrokeshire council charges 100% and the majority of the money goes to the Pembrokeshire Community Fund, which is spent on supporting local schemes and housing initiatives.

Councillor Neil Prior said communities were at a "tipping point".

The council is also exploring community-led housing development, like Community Land Trusts.

The Welsh government said it was "committed to taking immediate and radical action using the planning, property and taxation systems to tackle the injustices in the current housing market".

It also promised to have a package of proposals soon to tackle the various problems.

"We also continue to work towards our commitment of delivering 20,000 new low carbon social homes for rent this government term," a spokesman added.

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