Easter Ross MP calls for key worker housing to counter crisis fuelled in part by second-home ownership, citing local care home closure in speech
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AN Easter Ross MP is pressing the case for reserving affordable housing for key workers amid a growing crisis fuelled in part by second–home owners.
Speaking in a Westminster Hall Debate on the Affordable Homes Programme, MP Jamie Stone urged Government ministers to better support local authorities to reserve housing for key workers.
The Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MP suggests that this is a necessary precaution to ensure that key workers – like teachers, healthcare staff, and police – are accommodated locally to where they work.
"Both Governments need to do much more to protect housing for local people and key workers before we return to a very dire time indeed."
Mr Stone referenced the closure of the care home, Caladh Sona, in Talmine on the north coast of Sutherland. He remarked: "The reason that this is happening is because they cannot get the staff they need to run the home. And one of the reasons they can't get the staff to run the home is because there isn't housing."
Speaking later, he said: "I remember in the 1960s, houses were being built and reserved as key worker housing. It meant that vital staff could live and work locally, saving long commutes in potentially dreadful winter weather on pothole–ridden roads. It meant families could stay within their communities, near friends and loved ones.
"This was needed to tackle the greatest curse the Highlands has ever faced – depopulation. Instead of upping sticks and leaving for places like Canada, America, and Australia, young families could at last live and work at home.
"Now we face new challenges when it comes to housing. Houses along the north coast are quickly snapped up as second homes, holiday lets, or AirBnBs, leaving few places for local residents.
"Both Governments need to do much more to protect housing for local people and key workers before we return to a very dire time indeed."
