If you thought living in a horsebox on a farm because you can't afford rent was a creative solution, Cornwall council would like a word - preferably one involving a planning enforcement notice.

Cornwall council recently bragged about being one of the top five authorities in England for cracking down on planning violations, with half of those notices aimed at caravans parked in agricultural fields. It's a bit like being proud of being the best at kicking people when they're already down, but we digress.

Take Dawn, a 59-year-old former care worker who now cleans holiday lets - because irony is alive and well in Cornwall. She's been living in a horsebox on a farm for three years, a quaint arrangement she called "a peaceful home." But the council took aerial photos (because why not use taxpayer money for drone surveillance of vulnerable people?), and now she's being evicted. "It was such a shock," she said, presumably while packing up her damp, mouldy home.

Cornwall's economy runs on 4 million tourists a year, which is great if you're a landlord with one of the estimated 24,000 Airbnbs or holiday lets. Not so great if you're one of the 23,000 people on the social housing waiting list, or if you're Dawn, who lost her house 13 years ago when her partner left and she couldn't keep up with mortgage payments. She's spent a decade moving from campsite to car park, feeling unsafe, and now faces homelessness again.

Meanwhile, at Potters Farm in Halvasso, 75-year-old Sue Nicholls has been housing 35 people who would otherwise be homeless - including a man who lived under a bridge for three months. The council has been investigating her for a year for operating without a licence, despite apparently knowing about her set-up and even referring homeless people to her via charity St Petrocs. Nicholls has spent her savings applying for individual planning permission for every caravan, but residents still face possible eviction. "Where will they go?" she asked, a question the council seems reluctant to answer.

A council spokesperson offered the usual bureaucratic boilerplate about planning laws being there for a reason, but did acknowledge "sensitive issues" at Potters Farm. Sensitive, indeed - like a landmine of homelessness about to explode.