On a wet and windy morning in September 2021, over twenty members and supporters of ACORN, our community union, gathered in front of a caravan parked on a drive in the town of Penryn. We’d assembled to stop our member Mike getting evicted from his home, and despite the determination of the bailiffs and attending police officers, we were able to use our strength in numbers to stop him and his family being thrown onto the street with nowhere to go. Members stood firm, arm in arm, to protect our fellow union member as bailiffs used force to push past. As a result of our action, Mike avoided being made homeless: fighting off the bailiffs bought him enough time to find somewhere else for him and his family to live.

We started the Falmouth and Penryn group of ACORN in November 2020 because we wanted to fight back, and we thought building a community union would be a good place to start. Our members are service workers, single mums, pastors, unemployed people: ordinary individuals who want a fairer deal for our community. Through our campaign ‘Homes Before Holidays’, we want to put power in the hands of people like us by demanding that we have greater control over the short-term holiday lets and second homes flooding our communities. We don’t want our towns to be run by landlords and wealthy second-home owners with deep pockets, but by the communities that actually live and work there.

At one point last year, there were 10,000 Airbnbs available to rent in Cornwall, and only sixty-nine private rentals. There are 12,776 second homes registered in Cornwall, and 21,817 people waiting to be housed. The figures speak for themselves: the sheer quantity of second homes and holiday lets is leaving tens of thousands of people in Cornwall without a secure home. As more properties get turned into second homes and short-term holiday lets, those reliant on privately rented accommodation for a roof over their heads are finding themselves fighting for somewhere to live.

Our members have faced no-fault evictions at the hands of landlords looking to convert their properties into short-term holiday lets and rent hikes as the number of private, long-term lets rapidly shrink. Many have even found themselves living in converted coaches in car parks. Others have been forced to move away from family and friends to other towns and cities, simply unable to find anywhere suitable to live in Falmouth and Penryn.

Through ACORN Falmouth and Penryn, we’re starting to build the power we need to fight back against those who seek to make a profit from our communities. We’ve been able to stand shoulder to shoulder with our fellow members like Mike to stop them getting thrown into the street with their possessions. Now we’re taking the fight to Cornwall Council.

We’re calling on Cornwall Council to grant Falmouth Town Council greater control over second homes and short-term holiday lets. We believe the conversion of new and existing properties into second homes or holiday lets should require planning permission, giving residents a greater say over how many should be in their communities, and where they should go. Falmouth shouldn’t be a free-for-all for landlords, property developers, and the wealthy: we need affordable, suitable housing for the residents of Falmouth, not more short-term holiday lets and second homes that sit empty for half of the year.

We kicked off our campaign with a visit to Falmouth Town Council, where we got the Mayor, along with six other town councillors, to sign our petition. ACORN member Oscar, who has lived in Falmouth his whole life, gave an impassioned speech about the impact of Airbnbs and second homes on the community he grew up in. ‘I have seen my school friends, some with children, be made homeless or forced to leave their home and move up-country to find a stable living,’ he said. ‘This is unacceptable, and change needs to happen. We must be welcoming to positive change, but it cannot be at the expense of the community of hard-working, normal people who already live here.’

Then, last week, we took the fight to those profiting the most from the short-term holiday lets that litter our communities: holiday lets businesses. We held an outreach event directly outside one of Cornwall’s biggest holiday lets businesses on Falmouth high street and spoke to locals about the impact holiday lets are having on them. People are angry and scared—scared that they could be evicted at any moment, or forced out of the town they know and love because of astronomical rents. The only way we can stop this happening is by getting organised. ‘This campaign is the community’s response to this crisis, a call for regulation and restriction on second homes and holiday lets, which is the first necessary step to taking back our communities from the rich and greedy,’ says Dan Newcombe, the secretary of ACORN Falmouth and Penryn.

Our campaign is just getting started. Street by street and conversation by conversation, we’re building power in Falmouth and Penryn so we can take back our communities from rich second-home owners and millionaire landlords looking to squeeze a profit out of us. It’s time we put homes before holidays and power back in the hands of ordinary people—in Cornwall, and beyond.