Debate contribution: Holiday Homes and Short-term Lets

Debate contribution by Ms Cara Hunter on 4 November 2025.

MLA

Ms Cara Hunter

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

4 November 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Holiday Homes and Short-term Lets

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5217104

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am raising this issue in the House yet again, and, if I am to be frank, I am sick, sore and tired of doing so. It is an issue that rightfully angers so many of my constituents. The rising number of second homes is pushing them out of the very towns that they were raised in. There are no children in the streets. There are over 532 second homes in the one small town of Portstewart. That leads not only to a breakdown of community but to so much more. As the SDLP has stated many times in the Chamber, we are in a housing crisis and a housing emergency, yet we are forced to repeat the conversation yet again today. The challenge to secure housing for all is incredibly complex. There are onerous planning regulations; there is a lack of adequate sewage infrastructure; there is a lack of security in private rentals; there are rising rents; and, of course, there is a failure to build social housing at the pace that is so desperately needed. For those who do not have a home of their own or a secure and sustainable tenancy, the problem is acute and painful, but that problem bleeds into every single aspect of their life and impacts on entire families. I recently spoke in my office with the Portstewart Community Association. That group has made it incredibly clear that the lack of housing and the explosion of second homeownership in our constituency, particularly at the north coast, is leading to the unravelling of community life and of the sense of community as we know it. People from the north coast in particular — people who grew up there; people whom I know who were schooled there; and people who have roots and connections there dating back decades and generations — are increasingly being forced to make lives elsewhere when they do not want to. It is not fair, and it is not right. It is ruining the very fabric of our towns and villages. Our towns are literally dying. We need the Executive to listen to us. We have empty streets with no children in them, and we have empty houses with no people in them. It really is killing our sense of community. The failure to build homes, and the failure of the Communities Minister to monitor or regulate second homes, are huge failures. The knock-on impact of a lack of available housing is displacement, emigration and despair for the thousands who, sadly, find themselves reduced to a life of sofa-surfing. Just last week, I helped an elderly man in his 70s who is homeless. It was devastating to see the situation — probably, one of the worst cases that I have had as an MLA — and heartbreaking to witness at first-hand the way that he has to live each and every day without a sense of security. It speaks to the failure that we have in the North of Ireland to address the housing crisis. It has led to the separation of families, a brain drain and economic decline in our communities, and schools have faced challenges as a result of the lack of available housing, which is particularly driven by second homeownership. On the north coast, our once-thriving nightclubs languish as students from the west and beyond are forced into a life of commuting. We have seen a change in how students live: fewer are coming to live in the Coleraine/Portstewart area. Cultural institutions are struggling for numbers, while thousands of locals live in misery as they compete with hundreds to rent a property. This week, I heard of a young family who applied for over 100 houses in the north coast area, were unsuccessful in securing one and now have to live in Ballycastle. That speaks to the severity of the issue. The proliferation of second homes is a problem that must be faced down if we are to make meaningful progress on the problem. As I said in an Adjournment debate here months ago, the reality of the industry being left unchecked is fragmented communities, soaring house prices, and villages and towns, such as those in my constituency, being left desolate in the off-season as homes sit unoccupied. I urge the Minister for Communities and the wider Executive to, please, grasp the severity of this — grasp the nettle — and take action to remedy this genuinely horrific state of affairs. Each and every day, I speak with families who are homeless, who are sofa-surfing, whose children cannot bring friends over after school and who are living in their parents' living rooms. It is devastating. The home is the foundation on which you build your life, your stability and your sense of security. Without homes, people struggle severely. We need to find solutions. Ahead of today, I conducted some research into how other places are dealing with the issue. In Wales, local councils have been empowered to introduce planning rules to limit new second homes and apply higher council tax premiums where they hollow out local communities similar to ours. In Cornwall, new housing developments can now be reserved for people who live there all year round. In France, they have gone further and allow towns where second homes exceed 20% of housing stock to zone land for primary residents only. In Spain, such cities as Malaga and Seville have begun freezing new short-term rental licences to keep homes for local families to avoid pushing them out. I thank my colleague Claire Sugden — I hope that she feels better. She, too, is passionate about this topic and, as I have done, has met constituents who are living through the most horrific circumstances. Each of the places across Europe that I have mentioned have recognised the same truth that we now must face here in Northern Ireland: unrestrained second homeownership and unchecked short-term letting are not benign byproducts of tourism. They are drivers of housing insecurity and social decline in our communities. As the SDLP MLA for East Derry, I know that it is important to keep pushing the issue again and again in the House. I cannot reiterate enough the need for data and the need to monitor the issue. Constituents feel that they are not being listened to. So much more could be done. It is vital that the Executive fight for local communities and the people whose families have lived in our towns for generations and protect their right to live and work in the place in which they grew up and call home.

1,108 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:46 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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