Hello,
One potential way of tackling the current housing shortage in places like London and the South West is to make it more difficult for home owners to holiday let their properties through sites such as Airbnb or Vrbo. With demand for the ‘staycation’ showing few signs of abating, investor demand for lettable properties is driving up house prices.
The government’s solutions to the problem include the introduction of a short-term let registration scheme and to make home owners apply for planning permission before letting. As the government itself notes, holiday letting spawns its own ‘ecosystem’ of local services, and therefore any measures will have to balance the needs of local employment with local housing.