Terrye Highlights Housing Problem at National Conference

Terrye Teverson, Parliamentary Spokesperson for Truro and Falmouth, spoke impressively in a major debate on Poverty and Inequality, in Brighton at the Liberal Democrat conference this week.

Terrye again spoke up about the affordable housing crisis in Cornwall saying, "Tonight in Cornwall 19,000 families are waiting for a home while nearly the same number are standing empty, mostly being used as second homes in Cornwall."

Terrye, who has campaigned on the housing issue for many years, told delegates that although affordable housing was a national issue, nowhere else was it such a problem as in her constituency in Truro and Falmouth. A recent report by the Halifax building society shows that the Carrick District has the biggest affordability gap in the whole of the UK.

She said, "The situation in my area is so serious that Matthew Taylor, the current Truro and St Austell MP has been asked by Gordon Brown to report on the issue of affordable housing.

"Truro and Falmouth has the biggest affordability gap in the country. Homes here cost 16 times the average income. In the rest of the UK the average is 8 times average income. So we have double the problem. Low wages and high house prices taking having their toll on our communities."

Terrye commented, "We now have fishermen who commute to their fishing villages to get to their boats. Farm workers drive many miles to get to their farms. The increase of second home owners has created villages in my constituency that are dead for many months of the year - no school, no shop, no pub and no church."

Terrye concluded to applause from delegates, "There is a growing need for more homes for rent across the country. There will always be people who cannot get a mortgage and they still need a roof over their heads. We must campaign for those people, many of whom are living in dire circumstances. I pledge to continue to campaign to see our children are not shunted from home to home and school to school."