Causeway Coast and Glens Borough could become the “Wild West” for second homes without Governmental regulation, the Department for Communities (DfC) Minister says.
Minister Gordon Lyons made the statement during a deputation to elected members at this month’s full council meeting on Tuesday.
PUP Councillor Russell Watton noted that, according the most recent figures he could find, just three percent of the total social housing budget for Northern Ireland was allocated to the borough, compared to 23 percent for the neighbouring Derry City and Strabane.
“It’s a huge disparity and I can’t believe it’s nearly eight times the need we have down here, because you know yourself the whole housing situation is dire.” Cllr Watton told Mr Lyons.
“It’s there throughout the whole province but it’s particularly dire here with the holiday homes, second homes, and the like.”
Mr Lyons said he had raised this within the Northern Ireland Assembly, and highlighted that Causeway Coast and Glens has twice the number of second homes than other parts of Northern Ireland.
He added: “It’s something that I’ve asked the Department for the Economy to look at, in particular the regulations of Airbnbs, because those have sprung up in a number of places and I don’t think that we have the proper regulation in place.
“We recognise the importance of tourism, we recognise the importance of having appropriate accommodations, but it shouldn’t be the Wild West.
“We should make sure the proper regulation is in place and it’s not having a detrimental impact on the housing market and the ability for people to buy or rent homes.”
UUP Cllr Richard Homes said the second homes market meant young people in coastal towns, like Portrush and Portstewart, cannot get on the housing ladder and are alternatively trying to find housing in places like Coleraine.
“We regularly have apartments now selling in seven figure sums, and [during an appearance on the the Nolan Show] I heard you talking about a rates cap.
“Certainly for us the second homes market skews the whole housing market in the North Coast, as well as making ghost towns and so on.
“But that rates cap, for houses are selling for over £400,000, really hurts us here more so than probably nearly any other council in Northern Ireland.
“So actually taking that rates cap away and allowing the rates to rise would possibly help us a little bit here, if we’re getting houses built to meet the social [housing] need in coastal towns.”
Mr Lyons agreed it was “very, very difficult right across your council area”, and his department would work alongside council to “look at the issue of second homes more widely”.
“But you’ll hear me go back to the same issue time and time again, which is the need to increase supply,” he said. “That’s the way that we’re going to deal with this issue.”
“That does not mean that there are not going to be other tools that we can use and I’m certainly not closing any doors, because I think there is a role to play for the rating system to tackle some of these issues.”