HOUSING

Housing

It is imperative that the States work quickly with developers to provide affordable housing for our lower earners and young people, or risk seeing them move away. While it’s not States of Guernsey land, the example of the ongoing failure to get spades in the ground at Leale’s Yard is holding back the reinvigoration of the Bridge. The area will benefit hugely when the flood defence work is completed and the designs we’ve all seen in the Guernsey Press finally come to fruition, with a vibrant community living in the 300 new homes planned within walking distance of the shops on the harbourfront.

I had a similar thought while walking through Mill Street recently and felt that it seems to have been neglected for so long, and with the move to online shopping that has hit the High Street it seems unlikely to ever be a shopping district again. It would make a great area for development as affordable 1- and 2-bedroom flats for our young people looking to get onto that first rung on the property ladder, again, creating an influx of young residents within walking distance to Trinity Square, town shops and central workplaces.

In an island with property shortages too many buildings are left vacant, and I would support discussions with landlords who allow properties to fall into disrepair over a sustained period. I would also look at measures to make it financially unviable for owners to leave properties empty and undeveloped for years on end.

Earlier this month we learned that the inflation rate in Guernsey has outstripped our sister-island for the first time in recent years and is nearly twice as high as that in Jersey and the UK. The cost of housing was said to be the main contributor to our high rate of inflation, which impacts on businesses’ ability to make profits and means that price rises for essential items are often increasing out of synch with our wages.

The failure to build impacts negatively on the market creating an environment where demand outstrips supply, and our high rate of inflation affects the rents and mortgage rates we pay. As a priority, we need to look at ways to create more homes, and as my own life experience has shown this should also include well-built and maintained States housing for those families who need this kind of support in our community.

The States needs to work quickly and more closely alongside the GHA to focus on providing affordable social housing for our lower earners, and for our young people, to encourage them to stay and work on the island. I will apply to sit on the new Housing Committee and will work fast with colleagues to free-up the barriers preventing the creation of much needed homes that are in harmony with our island while also solving the housing crisis that impacts on so many other areas of our daily life.

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