Army veteran who wants to stay in Cornish hometown forced to live in van
An army veteran who served as a qualified nurse says the only way she can stay in Cornwall is to live in a van.
Lauren Bray grew up near Helston - where properties sell way beyond her budget.
The 27-year-old has bought and converted a van, as a way of staying close by. She says second home owners are to blame for the property crisis.
“I absolutely could not buy a house,” she said.
“Even though I have savings and a Help to Buy ISA there’s no way I can buy a house as a single woman in Cornwall. I’d have to be in a partnership or a relationship.
“I don’t see it ever changing - I think it’s just going to get worse because more and more people are coming to Cornwall.
“People who have houses in Cornwall have multiple houses - it becomes a game of Monopoly where they buy everything up.
“There’s a housing crisis here and it’s so bad - locals cannot afford places.
“Most people I know who are my sort of age don’t own properties. The only ones who have houses often admit to having had help from parents, have inherited money or are in a shared ownership scheme and or a relationship.
“So many others are living in caravans or vans or in an annex or something their parents have built for them.”
Lauren returned to Cornwall in 2022 after serving six years in the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps as a trainee and then qualified nurse.
Now, she spends around £60 a-week on shopping, £32 a-month on insurance and £110 whenever she needs to fill her tank with diesel.
Lauren added: “I love the freedom, the simplicity and being outdoors.
“It’s got everything in it that I could possibly need. My surfboard, my paddleboard, my binoculars and maps. So I can take it wherever I want in any condition and I can do whatever I want.
“You can hear the birds and the sea. I love laying in the back and hearing the waves crashing. When it’s raining you can hear it on top of the roof. I just love it.”
Earlier this year, it was announced that tax breaks for second home owners in Cornwall were being scrapped- but campaigners argue it's just a sticking plaster and more needs to be done to help locals.