Tenants’ union Living Rent Inverness backs Highland Council visitor levy saying ‘housing inequality takes priority over’ an ‘already booming tourist sector’
Inverness members of Living Rent – Scotland’s Tenants’ and Community Union – have launched a petition backing Highland Council’s bid to introduce a visitor levy but they want some of the cash for affordable housing.
The local authority is currently running a consultation until the end of March as it gathers a wide range of views from businesses and communities across the north.
The visitor levy has divided opinion in the north as more and more people raise concerns not so much about the tax itself but how its implementation.
The Inverness Chamber of Commerce CEO Colin Marr recently described the legislation as “fundamentally flawed” and works as a “tax on tax”.
The council claims a levy of five per cent could raise around £10 million a year, which they intend to spend on public infrastructure that mostly benefits tourism.
But Living Rent Inverness members want to see some of that money diverted instead to deal with the housing crisis that is affecting the region.
Members of the union argue that “addressing housing inequality takes priority over expanding an already booming tourist sector” adding: “There can be no Highland Hospitality if Highlanders don’t have homes.”
Living Rent Inverness says it wants to see more social housing, repairing and retro-fitting existing council-owned homes and boosting the Housing Discretionary Fund.
Members of Living Rent, Scotland’s Tenants’ and Community Union, have created a petition to demand that Highland Council introduce a visitor levy and secure funding to address the housing crisis across the Highlands.
The petition will run throughout the Highland Council consultation period and end on the 31st of March 2025.
‘Too many Highlanders are paying the costs of other people’s holidays’
A spokeswoman for Living Rent Inverness said: “Our communities are in crisis. We’ve seen an explosion in tourism across the Highlands in recent years which has been great for some, but too many Highlanders are paying the costs of other people’s holidays.
“Second homes and holiday homes are decimating our communities, robbing us of permanent stable housing.
“No housing means nowhere to live, which means no viable communities. So, as tourism booms, our towns are being emptied of long-term residents.
“Ironically, the very workers that tourism relies on are forced to leave because they can no longer find anywhere to live. In other words, it’s not just unemployment that’s the problem, it’s the lack of housing in the first place.
“And it’s especially the younger generations that are being hit the hardest. I know countless Highlanders who are being forced to leave their own communities - not just because they can’t afford the rent, but because there just are no longer any homes to rent at all.”
