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‘Highland second-homers are hollowing out our communities’





ARIANE BURGESS: "Wealthy people buying up properties they won’t live in are pushing out young families in particular."
ARIANE BURGESS: "Wealthy people buying up properties they won’t live in are pushing out young families in particular."

Making it harder for the wealthy to hoard homes by increasing their tax is crucial to tackle the housing crisis in the Highlands, says local Scottish Greens MSP Ariane Burgess.

The most recent data from the Scottish Government shows that second homes and short-term lets make up 7.99% of all housing in the Highlands.

“This is 4.4 times the national average of 1.8%” she said.

“At the same time, a housing emergency has been declared across Scotland and over 10,000 children are in temporary accommodation.”

In many cases young people are forced to leave the communities they have grown up in due to housing shortages and high house prices caused by second homes and holiday lets, Ms Burgess stressed.

“The Scottish Greens have already taken action to reduce the spread of holiday homes and short term lets, doubling the tax paid when buying a home for these purposes and giving councils the power to double council tax on these properties.

“This reduced the number of second homes by 2,455 in Scotland last year compared to 2023 and raised tens of millions of pounds for public services like the NHS and schools.”

Last week in the Scottish Parliament, Scottish Green MSPs raised concerns about the expansion of second home ownership in the Highlands, and called for action to protect communities and help first-time house buyers by reducing the number of holiday homes.

Ms Burgess said: “Scotland is in a housing crisis. Everyone in Parliament agrees on this, but it’s only the Scottish Greens delivering the changes needed to tackle it.

“The fact that we have more than four times as many second homes and holiday lets in the Highlands as the national average is a major reason why this crisis is so much worse locally. Wealthy people buying up properties they won’t live in are pushing out young families in particular.

“These houses either lie empty for most of the year as holiday homes, or they are hoarded by landlords making a fortune from Airbnb-style short term lets. Either way, it’s first-time buyers who are pushed out by those with much more financial muscle.

“There are 10,000 children stuck in temporary accommodation, but 49,000 second homes and short-term lets. This is a crisis which can clearly be solved. We’ll only do that by taking on the wealthy few, those who pay very little tax while hoovering up the houses which other people need.

“The current Housing Bill is a watershed moment in the Scottish Parliament. Thanks to the Scottish Greens it will deliver controls on rent increases and new rights and protections for renters. However, it must go further to tackle the vast inequality gap that we see between the rich and the vulnerable in the Highlands.

“The Scottish Government must listen to us and act boldly to stop the hollowing out of our communities.”


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