Paul Fenner says he is contacted at least once a month by someone keen to move to Skye to work.
“Time and time again, however, they find they cannot find any accommodation.”
The situation facing the operation manager at Stagecoach Skye is familiar to businesses across Skye and Lochalsh.
New research shows between 1,300-1,700 job vacancies in the area are being left unfilled because of a lack of accommodation.
A lack of affordable housing is seen as the biggest barrier to recruitment and retention. It is also seen as restricting services and commercial activity.
Skye’s housing needs underestimated by almost 200%
The biggest survey ever undertaken of the area’s housing needs suggests the problem is potentially 200% higher than previous estimates.
It reveals two in five businesses are experiencing recruitment problems.
A total of 29% of businesses have offered a job to someone who has not taken it up, with accommodation issues mentioned in half the cases.
The report will now be used to lobby governments and other agencies for investment to alleviate the housing crisis and protect the economy.
Potential solutions include more affordable housing and encouraging private owners to sell land to communities to build homes.
Diversifying Skye’s economy, with one in four jobs in tourism, is also suggested.
This would provide more young people with opportunities for better-paid and more secure jobs, allowing them to live on the island.
But the report says there is no one-size-fits-all solution and government policy needs to be adaptive and sensitive to remote and island needs.
The business housing needs survey was commissioned by SkyeConnect, Lochalsh and Skye Housing Association, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Highland Council.
The research was conducted by 56 Degree Insight with 143 businesses interviewed.
It shows Brexit, a general skills shortage and competition from other places are also contributory factors to the recruitment issue.
But a lack of local people available to fill positions and a shortage of housing are the most common causes.
Mr Fenner says: “This affects our business because we are cautious in expanding our services in case we cannot staff the expansion.”
Businesses short of staff
He added that a number of hospitality businesses are short of staff this year. This meant cafes and restaurants have had to close at some point in the week.
He added it must be “affecting the tourists’ impression of the island.
“Some form of temporary housing, which is available to workers either working the season or looking to get a foothold here, should be considered.”
Factors affecting the housing issue include incoming buyers inflating property prices and long-term rental accommodation becoming short-term lets.
SkyeConnect director Clare Winskill says tourism businesses are struggling to service demand which has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.
She says the area has growth potential and an attractive lifestyle.
“That is an opportunity. But with 1,300-1,700 vacancies across all sectors difficult to fill now, at this moment that opportunity will be missed.
“There is no confidence that the extreme recruitment issues will abate.
“In real terms, we are looking at a significant contraction of our economy here now, if the rapid building of affordable housing that will allow recruitment and retention of a workforce does not take place.”
There is no confidence that the extreme recruitment issues will abate.”
SkyeConnect director Clare Winskill
Neil Clapperton is chief executive of Lochalsh and Skye Housing Association. He says the report provides a compelling case for urgent investment in affordable housing.
“If Skye and Lochalsh is to function as a popular tourist destination, if its communities are to have an economic future, and rural economic diversification is to have any meaning, it needs a smart, collaborative and flexible approach to affordable housing.
“And we need a lot of it, and now.”
Worker shortages are key
The new study follows a report last year from SkyeConnect that highlighted the lack of affordable housing as a key issue impacting recruitment.
Faye MacLeod runs a chartered accountants business in Skye. Due to the housing and recruitment issue she changed strategy and began training local people.
She and her husband, who has two hotels on the island, bought three houses to use for workers. Two are now used as long-term rentals for local families.
“We solved our own housing problem. But putting individuals in a house together is not providing housing, it’s providing a bed.
“If you’re looking at the long-term and people coming here to settle, I don’t think that is necessarily an attractive solution.”
She said the community-led development of homes should be made easier.
Six were built recently by the Staffin Community Trust.
“That’s the sort of thing we should be encouraging. However, the red tape surrounding affordable housing projects taken forward by communities is frightening.”
‘Issue won’t be solved just by building more homes’
Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch MSP Kate Forbes said hundreds of new homes have been built in recent years.
“Despite that, there is an acute shortage of affordable homes, demonstrating that the issue won’t be solved just by building more homes.
“It is particularly concerning that local people with reasonable incomes cannot afford a home on Skye because the demand for holiday accommodation significantly outstrips supply.”
She said building more homes without tackling the commercialisation of housing will not solve the problem.
She supports adding a rural burden to more homes. This would aim to stop the sale of a property for profit or to buyers not in the area.
“A key part of the government’s approach to new builds has been the Island and Rural Housing Fund to specifically focus on rural areas.
“I will push for a fair share of those 100,000 affordable homes to be built in smaller villages, like Elgol and Staffin.”
She said there is also a role for tax and regulation to discourage second home ownership.
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