A shortage of rental accommodation since COVID and the increasing cost-of-living has deepened the Isle of Wight’s housing crisis, a new council report shows.
Hundreds of Island households have been added to the Isle of Wight’s housing register for social homes over the last few years. An adult social care, public health and housing needs committee paper shows 2,596 households were registered in 2024, up from 2,357 in 2021.
The report says the upward trend is due to the overall shortage of rented accommodation since Covid, the lack of new build for affordable rents and the effect of the cost-of-living crisis.
Council data also shows that at the end of 2025, 240 households were recorded as homeless or living in temporary or emergency accommodation.
Councillor Peter Spink, Empowering Islanders representative for Freshwater North and Yarmouth, said:
“Rising overheads have made it increasingly difficult for housing associations and others to provide social rent housing.
“Unless this is addressed the number of residents on the housing register will increase. The government has pledged funding for social rent housing; the council must ensure that it receives its fair share of this.
“It must also be more proactive in bringing forward council owned land for social housing; the Land Disposal Policy introduced by Empowering Islanders requires that instead of selling off land to private developers its suitability for social rent housing is assessed.”
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An Isle of Wight Council spokesperson has said:
“The latest housing need and homelessness figures highlight the significant pressures facing the Island, much like many areas across the country.
“The council continues to work tirelessly to support residents who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, and our priority remains ensuring that people have access to safe and suitable accommodation.
“We are seeing sustained demand for temporary accommodation, alongside year‑on‑year increases in the number of residents on the housing register and those presenting as rough sleeping.
“These trends reflect wider pressures in the national housing market as well as the increasingly complex needs of some of the people we are supporting.
“The report going to committee this week sets out our ongoing commitment to keeping families out of bed and breakfast accommodation.”
They added the council’s recent investment in buying temporary accommodation shows it is ‘actively reducing’ reliance on ‘expensive nightly-paid provision’ while working to secure better outcomes for Island households.
The committee is due to discuss the report this evening (Thursday) at 17:00.
well – perhaps if we werent seeing the seemingly endless steady increase of new arrivals to the island, that are clearly being relocated after turning up on dinghys from france, then there wouldn’t be as much pressure would there.
This is obvious when you notice the changes around the towns and bus stations.
Wherever these people are from they have as much
right being housed on the island than a person
being born on the island.
The country is different to the country it once was.
I presume many of these people are working in the
care industry, something the island needs.
Get over it.
Unfortunetely your personal viewpoint is at odds with the majority, if you are sociallist and belive in this wondrous but sadly flawed multiculturism then you ae part of the problem not the solution, even enlightened countires such as switzerland have issued a cap on the population with swiss born taking priority over all others which is as it should be.
The problem isn’t council land being sold off to private developers. Tax changes and the rise of Airbnb etc pushed many landlords to shift rental homes to holiday lets. And there’s been a failure to recognise the impact this would have on an island community. There are c. 2,500 of holiday lets on the island (unfunnily enough the same number as households on the housing list) with the increase simultaneously reducing the stock of homes for island people (either to buy or rent) and created an oversupply of hotel rooms, with many hotels struggling. The obvious solution (aside from regulating holiday lets) would be to remove the planning restrictions that limit the ability to convert hotels to residential. That would not only help to repair the imbalance of both not enough homes and too many hotel rooms but would do so in a way that doesn’t involve building on greenfield land.
Now isn’t that a suprise. I was on the list from 1971 until around 1989 then I was dumped off the list saying not eligible because I did not live on the Island, apparently being ex Armed Forces held no water anymore but any overner could come and literally demand a place. I guess nothing has changed in that respect.
PS. My wife is quite heavily disabled.
The new ‘renters rights’ law coming in won’t help. People call private landlords grasping but they are an essential evil when the council can’t provide. If compelled to take pets & people who don’t want to work along with the increased paperwork they sell up. Who wants people in their homes if they cannot choose to pick out potential problem tenants? Evicting them is too costly & time consuming