This campaign is being led by Vicky Garner and Kate Tregunna. Scroll down to let them tell you what led to them taking action.
Kate Tregunna
My name is Kate; I'm 34 years old and single. I work at Treliske as a Medical Laboratory Assistant, processing about three thousand blood samples a day from the community and the hospital, as well as helping to maintain blood gas machines in high priority areas such as A&E.
Like many young people in a steady full time job I looked to get onto the property ladder and so applied for affordable housing, as open-market housing was out of my
price range. I received a letter back saying I did not qualify as "did not have enough purchasing power", when inquiring about this I was told I did not earn enough. Apparently if you earn less than fifteen thousand a year
you require a substantial deposit.
When looking into the rented social housing list I was told I would qualify for the bronze band, as I am a key worker. Unfortunately, as a full time worker, I'm able to rent a room, in a house, which has hot running water and central heating etc, basic necessities but having them actually counts against me.
There are two and a half thousand people on the Carrick Council rented social housing list. People on gold/silver band will always have priority, which I completely understand. It is not a list you move up the longer you're on it and they did admit that they could not guarantee they could ever house some people. Through my campaign I have heard of one person being on the list for approximately thirteen years. So overall I feel I am being penalised for earning 'too much' to get a rented social house, but I do not earn enough to get onto the affordable list.
I realised that there are many other workers e.g. some NHS workers, teaching assistants, carers, cleaners, shop workers & many more, which would be in a similar position. This led me to ask, exactly who is affordable housing for
and who'd decided what is affordable? I realised that it would be pointless to wait for someone else to raise public awareness of the potential collapse of the infrastructure that holds our society together.
So began my campaign. If everyone who earned fifteen thousand a year or less had to leave the area in order to get a place of their own, then ask yourself who will look after vital public services e.g. hospitals, stock the shops and help educate your children? Whilst there are nineteen thousand people on the Cornish affordable housing list, how many more are there, like myself, that do not appear in these statistics?
I felt I had to at least try to be
a voice for those who are not being included and therefore not being heard
Vicky Garner
About 9 years ago I was earning just enough to afford a house in Cornwall. I put in an offer on a tiny place outside Trispen and two days before we signed contracts the seller pulled out. He didn't give a reason, but it soon became apparent when I checked the West Briton the following Thursday. House prices had gone up so much in the weeks since I'd put in the offer, that I could no longer afford a single property. Houses on the same estate were now going for £10k more than literally a few weeks before. Who could blame him for wanting to cash in on the boom!
That moment, back in 1998 was the last time I could have got on the housing ladder in Cornwall. Since then, I have not had a chance and I have continued to pay high rents, moving from place to place, with my only potential option being to move out of the county, get a better paid job and hope that I could save enough to one day move back to Cornwall.
Things for me have taken unexpected twists and turns over the last year or so and now I find myself with a home. But rather than making me sit back and relax, the ever worsening housing situation in Cornwall makes me increasingly riled day by day, especially watching family and friends going through the stress of having no permanent roof over their heads and no hope of finding one.
My background is in campaigning, having run Surfers Against Sewage for several years in the late '90's. SAS was a campaign organisation based on real solutions and I loved that about it. Our arguments were well researched, we had the answers and we knew how to get our voice heard. SAS began with a handful of local surfers who were sick of their reality - filthy beaches and sickness after surfing. Within a few years the organisation had thousands of members. Every one of them affected by the state of our beaches and wanting to do something about it. We took their reality to Parliament and the powers that be. And we changed things.
And that's what we want to do with housing in Cornwall. We want to take your reality to the decision makers, the civil servants, the politicians, the powers that be. And we want to change things.
There are thousands upon thousands of you in Cornwall who are affected by the current housing crisis. You are the weight behind the campaign and if we are going to make a difference we need your support.
Kate and I are both up for taking this all the way to Parliament and we will do everything we can to change things for the better. But we do need your help. Drop us a line at affordablehomescornwall@yahoo.co.uk or keep an eye on the website for the latest news.
