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Should Prince Harry ever tire of the constant glare of tabloid flash bulbs, he will be relieved to know that his haven at Rock in north Cornwall is safe from the teeming masses.

The area's reputation as Knightsbridge-on-Sea has been boosted this week with the news that there are now almost as many second homes as social housing.

Figures from North Cornwall council's housing strategy show that there were 4095 second homes in the district but just 1058 homes owned by housing associations and only 3500 council homes.

In addition, the average salary in the area is £16,494 – 24% below the national average – and the council has lost 2149 homes to right to buy since 1981.

There will be just 206 homes built in 2003-04 by housing associations across Cornwall, and the region received no extra funding in the Communities Plan.

Mark Howell, North Cornwall council's head of housing, said some council houses in the area cost as much as £230,000 and were too expensive for average earners to buy through right to buy, even with the maximum £30,000 discount.

The council is also struggling with homelessness – Howell says it usually has up to 25 families in bed-and-breakfast accommodation and about 500 applications for housing each year.

Cornish housing providers also think the South-west's regional housing strategy works against Cornwall. Tom Woodman, director of strategy and communication at Devon and Cornwall Housing Association, said he wanted to see changes: "The investment priorities are focused on villages and larger urban areas and not enough on the coastal and market towns that are a particular feature of Cornwall."

He also wants to see the definition of key workers expanded to include coastguards and lifeboatmen who often cannot afford to live in the emergency call-out zone of their stations.

A pressure group of Cornish housing organisations, mortgage lenders and politicians was formed in April in response to the crisis. The group, Sustainable Cornish Community Housing, chaired by Tim Smit, the chief executive of Cornwall's Eden Project, is pressing for changes in planning regulations to reduce the number of second homes in the area.

Paul Tyler, MP for North Cornwall and a member of the group, said: "The only answer is to give local planning authorities the power to dictate where and when the level of second homes is enough and should not be exceeded. This doesn't require change to legislation, it just requires change to the use classes order."