We need a covenant on new builds and empty housing stock in areas like Gwynedd.

The BBC reports that.

Affordable housing rules should be changed to help attract key public sector workers to rural communities, an MP has said.
In Gwynedd only local people on lower incomes can rent or buy affordable homes, under planning rules.
MP Liz Saville Roberts said this meant key sector workers, like teachers and NHS workers, could not "live in the communities they serve".
The council said its policy was helping people to buy in their communities.
Affordable housing policies are aimed at ensuring local people on lower incomes, who may otherwise be priced out, are able to buy homes in their cities, towns and villages.
House prices on the open market in Llanengan are driven by the market in nearby Abersoch, where the average house price was £447,589 last year, according to housing website Rightmove.
The area is known as the "second home capital" of north Wales. A beach hut alone could set you back over £100,000.

Of course second home owners and retirees, would not be afected if the village school closed due to lack of numbers, or the inability to recruit teachers due to them not being able to afford to live there.

But Ms Saville Roberts, Plaid Cymru MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, said it was "impossible" for many local people, to build or buy homes in rural areas due to high house prices.
She said key sector workers, like teachers or police officers, who may earn more than the cut off income for affordable housing, could not live in the communities they served and rules need to be changed.
The couples say they have also struggled to get a mortgage to build the properties, due to a planning condition which means the value of the homes will be cut if they are put up for sale as affordable homes.
The two three-bed houses would have a likely value of £370,000 if they were put on the market, but would need a 60% discount to meet the current affordable threshold of £142,000.
"Nearly all my family live there, my brother, my mother, father, my grandmother, said Megan, who works at a nearby GP surgery and grew up in Llanengan.
"It would be really heartbreaking to leave because I was brought up there, went to school there and I'd like my children in future to have that opportunity, to live in the village and be raised there."

In Wales, rules differ depending on where you live, with councils setting planning policies depending on the needs of local communities.
The Welsh Government issued guidance on giving consideration to workers who provide "essential services" to local communities, when setting affordable housing policies, but councils do not have to adhere to this as it is not law.
In parts of England, including London, "key sector" worker schemes are in place to help teachers, doctors and paramedics to live in the communities where they work.
Ms Saville Roberts said the current rules in Gwynedd were not working in an area with high house prices, which needed head teachers and public sector workers.
"We find it very difficult in this county, particularly in rural areas, to be able to appoint people to certain public sector jobs," she said.
"This raises the question, are we planning for our community needs in future?
"If people cannot live in the communities which they serve, then we must look again at the policy to see how suitable it is."

Gwynedd council said its affordable housing policy has worked very successfully to ensure affordable housing for people who are eligible, including key workers.
But it said while it recognised the couples' desire to build and live in the houses, allowing them without the 60% discount, would mean it had no control over whether the homes would be affordable if sold on the open market.
"The council is not aware of any difficulties the applicants have experienced in obtaining a loan, but the planning committee report did note that this could have the potential to cause a problem in securing a loan," a spokesman said.

It's not just a problem in Gwynedd one program ironically  on the BBC who are covering this story  "Escape to the Country" actually promotes the sort of condition where people ar eencouraged to move into rural areas and push up the prices, it never seems to mention this as affecting local people or in the case of Wales having a detremental effect on th Welsh Language.

Since this is a problem that affects other parts of Wales the Welsh Government need to address the problem of second homes and retires pushing up house prices.

One solution may be that the local authority place a covenant on new builds and empty housing stock  which places restrictions on further sales of housing.

It may be draconian and we may need legislation , but that is what the Assembly is for.

We can't carry on seeing people leave areas like Gwynedd because it has become second or retirement homes from people outside, including other parts of Wales.