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Housing crisis in Cornwall 
The most south-westerly region of Britain — remote, windswept and an area of staggering natural beauty — is being purged of its local working-class population, writes DAWN EVANS
The fishing village of Mevagissey, Cornwall [Nick Fewings / Creative Commons]

HAVING lived in the far south-west of Cornwall for 50 years, I have first-hand experience of the insecure housing situation that the working-class community here has always struggled with. 

This is mainly the result very low wages, insufficient social housing, and very short-term winter-let contracts in the private housing sector; which allow private landlords and agents to cash in on premium rents from tourists during the summer season.

The situation has always been bad. But shortly after the Covid lockdown began in early 2020, the ensuing avalanche of wealthy people fleeing urban environments for spacious, rural idylls took everyone by surprise. 

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