Cllr Michael Pavlovic said he recognised that “the tourism sector brings a great deal of money into the city” but said there had been “massive growth” of short-term holiday lets over the past five to six years in York, amid a housing shortage in the city.
The Labour executive member for housing, speaking to The Press, called on the government to grant local authorities the power to refuse applications for properties being changed into short-term holiday lets.
Lets are currently subject to some planning, business and housing rules but councils cannot limit the overall amount of them or block them in certain areas.
Work on granting local authorities more control of short-term lets by making them subject to the planning process, first announced by the previous Conservative government, remains ongoing.
Cllr Pavlovic said there are around 2,500 holiday lets in York, the majority in the city centre.
“I can understand that for landlords in a city like York, which has nine million visitors a year, there is going to be a demand [for holiday lets],” he said.
“But we also have a responsibility for people in York who are being priced out of the market.”
Cllr Pavlovic added that the current process by which local authorities can challenge short-term holiday lets is “long, convoluted and expensive”.
He said the new government proposals “may give us the opportunity to limit the numbers” of short-term holiday lets but “the devil will be in the detail”.
Cllr Pavlovic was speaking following the unveiling of the council’s Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy.
The strategy follows his pledge to end rough sleeping in York by 2027.
“Nobody wants to see people sleeping on the streets,” he said.
“But every local authority has a similar issue.
“In York, this is magnified because it is an attractive place to come.”
Cllr Pavlovic said the number of people sleeping on York’s streets fluctuates depending on the season.
He said the council’s navigators, which check on rough sleepers every morning, found 15 people sleeping on the city’s streets two weeks ago and the number is now closer to 20.
Of the 15 rough sleepers identified earlier this month, he said five had “no local connection” to York.
Another five were people who have their own flats in York but “choose to spend one, two, three nights a week on the streets”, Cllr Pavlovic said.
He said the council, like other local authorities, can only accommodate rough sleepers from its area.
“Our navigators engage, encourage and even pay for them [through a council-issued travel warrant] to go back to where they do have a connection,” he said.
“However, in the summer months this can be difficult because, frankly, it is lucrative to beg on the streets during the high tourist season.”
For those sleeping rough from York, Cllr Pavlovic said the navigators talk to them about why they are doing so and provide guidance on seeking help.
‘Rough sleeping and homelessness are not just issues that face the council, they are issues for society’
Cllr Pavlovic has implemented a Housing First model in York to tackle homeless and said it is the “best chance we’re going to have” to end rough sleeping in the city by 2027.
The model, which has been implemented in places including Greater Manchester and Finland, prioritises permanent housing with personal wraparound support for people based on their needs.
It aims to move away from hostel accommodation and stop people having to rely on homelessness services.
Cllr Michael Pavlovic has said a Housing First model is the “best chance we’re going to have” to end rough sleeping in York by 2027 (Image: Yui Mok/PA Wire) Cllr Pavlovic said some of those currently sleeping rough in York “are just finding it difficult to cope living in accommodation” and the new strategy’s tailored support aims to address this.
He said the council currently has 64 Housing First properties and must obtain a stock of 250 homes over the next five years for the strategy to succeed, which he insisted is achievable.
The executive member said the council found that 80 per cent of people currently supported by Housing First were stable in their own accommodation for a year or more, compared to around 60 per cent under the previous hostel system.
“We know that this works, we’ve seen it work in York,” he said.
Cllr Pavlovic added that some of these people are “now able to work for the first time in years”.
He admitted that people may say those being supported under Housing First are “accessing things that we can’t access” and said: “I do understand that.
“But we also know that entrenched rough sleepers will have more significant health problems and will access more services.
“To be able to reduce their dependence [on services] is a way in which we can see benefits for the whole of society, not just for the individual.
“Rough sleeping and homelessness are not just issues that face the council, they are issues for society.”
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Meanwhile, Cllr Pavlovic said the council continues to see hundreds of households facing homeless applying for support each year.
The latest figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) show that between January and March 203 York households were assessed for homeless support – a drop from 209 over the same three-month period last year.
Of the households assessed for support between January and March, 201 were found to be owed a statutory homeless duty – down from 205 in the same three-month period last year.
The data also showed that in York 61 households, with 30 children, were living in temporary accommodation as of December 31 last year.
This was down from 64 households in York living in temporary accommodation, with 45 children, at the end of March 2024, according to MHCLG figures.
Cllr Pavlovic said: “We will support everybody who comes to the council.”
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