The South West's crippling housing crisis is stalling recruitment leading to serious staff shortages as workers struggle to find somewhere affordable to live.
Business leaders now say that the problem is a top priority as Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit has led to perfect storm of problems for people competing to find homes in the region, leaving businesses struggling to find enough people to cover core roles.
Tim Jones, Chairman of the South West Business Council, said: "It has gone from somewhere like number seven on the top 10 list to one of the top three for business priorities.
"We have got more property millionaires in the South West than most other regions which means that nobody can get on the housing ladder and are deterred from even coming to the South West because of that.
"Why would you look for jobs here if you can't find anywhere to live?"
Mr Jones said that the issue has been masked by a reliance on transient European labour pre-Brexit that had filled key worker jobs in care, retail and hospitality.
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He said: "The reality is that this has been a running sore in the local economy for years but it had been papered over.
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"We need to get back to basics and make sure that accommodation is part of our training and education system whereby we factor in where those skilled people are going to live in 10-15 years time.
"We are very good at ring fencing stock for the over 55s and retired people - perhaps we need to see a similar scheme for the under 30s."
Waiting list figures reveal the scale of the problem in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset.
As of 1 October 2021, the total number of households in Devon with a housing need on the county’s Home Choice website was 18,392 – an increase of 2% on the 18,059 registered on 1 July.
In Cornwall, there are currently 19,977 live applications on the Cornwall Council Homechoice website as the number of people looking for a home continues to rise - up from nearly 12,000 in January of this year.
The number of households registered with Homefinder Somerset increased by 429 (5%) to 9,528 between 4 July and 13 October 2021.
Some businesses are taking matters into their own hands to recruit and retain staff. Barnstaple-based online procurement platform Applegate helps its degree apprentices onto the housing ladder by matching their savings for a deposit. This sees them with up to £20,000 to put down when they graduate.
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Applegate’s Chief Executive, Stuart Brocklehurst, said: “As employers we can play a real part in supporting our colleagues and helping people to establish their lives locally.
"Businesses can’t solve the housing crisis on our own, but there is a role for us to play,” he said.
It comes as house prices skyrocket in the region - far outstripping average earnings.
New figures by building society Nationwide show that first-time buyers in the region face stumping up six-and-a-half times typical annual earnings to get on the property ladder and - and it is estimated that for some people that figure could be rise to around ten times annual earnings.
The figures suggest that a 20% deposit on a home now equates to 110% of the pre-tax income of a typical full-time employee – which is also a record high and up from 102% a year ago.
It is the highest figure in the country outsider of Greater London and the South East.
A new report by Rightmove shows that five out of the top ten coastal locations in the 海角视频 with the biggest jumps in average asking prices between 2020 and 2021 are in the South West.
Topping the list is Padstow where the average house price is £658,588, up 20% on 2020.
Number 3 is St Ives (£473,161, 15%), number 5 is Newquay (£317,846, 13%), Brixham in Devon ( £299,127, 12%) at five and and number 9. Preston, Paignton, Devon ( £303,684, 12%)
And in some sought after areas, like Shaldon in South Devon - even a single parking space .
Cornwall Council has declared a housing crisis, with St Minver .
And the problem has been exacerbated by the knock-on effects of the pandemic.
Paul Crawford, chief executive of LiveWest - which provides more than 38,000 homes from Gloucestershire to the Isles of Scilly, through open market, shared ownership and affordable rent - said that demand is massively outstripping supply with all its available properties bought off-plan before they have even been built.
LiveWest is one of the biggest employers in the region with around 1,400 staff. Mr Crawford said members of his own team, earning average regional salaries are themselves struggling to find housing after being served notice on their rented homes being turned over for use as holiday lets to serve the staycation boom.
Mr Crawford said rocketing house prices, second home ownership, 'work-anywhere' relocation and a loss of rental stock to holiday lets where landlords can make £4,000 a week in peak summer as opposed to £1,000 a month is further compounding the problem.
It means that more and more people who would otherwise be in secure rental or buying on the open market are competing for shared ownership or affordable rent housing - and there isn't enough to go round.
LiveWest has ambitions to build a further 9,600 homes by 2026 and it has secured £123m worth of government funding to build 2,550 affordable homes across the South West thanks to new strategic partnership funding from Homes England.
Under the partnership, at least 25% of homes will be built through sustainable modern methods of construction including modular housing, which will speed up delivery.
The biggest problem is a lack of housing stock in the region but there is no simple quick fix solution, said Mr Crawford.
"If we think that banning second homes in areas like the South Hams is going to solve it - it won't. There has been a systemic lack of delivery over a number of years and that has led to a desperate shortage of housing.
"I have been in the housing sector for 32 years and I have never experienced anything like this. The cost of housing relative to earnings at this level is not something I have ever seen in the South West before.
"We have a reliance on tourism, retail and the service industry in the South West - if people can't afford to live near where they work we are simply not going to achieve economic prosperity as a region."
Nationally, there needs to be 340,000 homes built annually to meet demand, but, said Mr Crawford, we will be lucky to see half that amount built.
And he said that the current land allocations in the region's local plans are 'not fit for purpose'.
"They have not allocated enough land to meet the demand for homes. We need to have those difficult conversations about what type of homes are genuinely needed if we are going to perform effectively as a region."
"There needs to be a collective recognition that there is a housing crisis,' he said.