A Labour motion to try and tackle the growing homelessness and housing crisis in Cornwall is being put before a full meeting of the Tory led county council next week.

The Labour Group, led by Falmouth councillor Jayne Kirkham, has submitted the motion, supported by some members of Mebyon Kernow, for debate at full council which take place on Tuesday May 24.

Cllr Kirkham says the motion, proposed by Cllr Kate Ewert and seconded by her, reflects councillors' growing concerns regarding the housing and homelessness crisis in Cornwall and suggests some practical measures that could help immediately.

"We feel the council and government have reacted far too slowly to what has become a homelessness and housing crisis in families, particularly single parent families, in Cornwall," said Cllr Kirkham. "We want to make sure that the council quickly takes all practical measures that we can to help people who are trying to cope now with homelessness and bad housing. That is the purpose of this council motion."

The motion calls for an inquiry into the private rented sector, passed by the full council in 2020 but never actioned, be implemented. The inquiry chaired by Cornelius Olivier recommended that the council should consult on licensing in the private rented sector to combat poor standards. Investigate additional licensing for houses in multiple occupation to raise standards in smaller shared houses. Currently mandatory licensing is only required for HMOs with five or more people living in them. The recommendation is to consider lowering that limit to three people or more.

The inquiry also agreed that the council should lobby government and our six MPs for measures to help ease the housing crisis.

"We are not aware that recommendation was ever complied with," said Cllr Kirkham.

They are also calling for the council to direct more resources and publicity to the council's policy of enforcing covenants in ex-council houses.

"The council agreed to take enforcement action against people who are letting out ex-council houses to make a profit, such as holiday lets and Airb'n'bs," said Cllr Kirkham. "The purpose of these homes was always to house local people, not to make a profit. This was actually a Conservative party pledge which has not been fulfilled. Where it has been enforced, more housing is being released back for the use of local people."

The motion also calls for the council the deal with "the fast increasing issue of homelessness in families in Cornwall".

They say in the past two years the number of homeless families has increased "exponentially" with a growing number of families being evicted from their private rented sector accommodation with no experience or knowledge of how our benefits system works and what they should do next.
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"We consider each homeless household should be assigned a specific housing officer who can explain the process at the start," said Cllr Kirkham We suggest some sort of initial care letter or FAQ sheet setting out the steps that the resident and the authority should take.

She said there were also concerns about the number of children being moved far away from their schools and support networks into emergency and temporary accommodation and the way the Homechoice register does not act to prioritise homeless families.