Charroterie should be social only

FOLLOWING his announcement in the States yesterday, it is clear from the Housing minister that Guernsey's only tower block accommodation can be restored cost effectively and put back into the local housing stock.

This is good news, especially given the earlier doubts about whether it could be used that way at all.

The key to the change has been giving it to the Guernsey Housing Association, with its different focus on social housing for single people and couples, and its expertise in unlocking value from property sites.

With that level of creativity applied, Cour du Parc can be transformed with external insulating cladding, incorporating the balconies – previously seen as a hazard – within the accommodation area and making better use of wasted communal areas by turning it into living space.

Better still, if all goes to plan this will not cost the taxpayer a penny. The GHA will borrow commercially to fund the development and the rents it receives will cover the repayment.

It is further evidence of the benefits of outsourcing projects like this to a third party that, even if not completely in the private sector, behaves like it in speed and ingenuity when resolving issues.

Where islanders might have concerns, however, is in the 40-plus units to be created not necessarily all going to help those most in need of social housing.

Instead, an undisclosed number might be used by States employees, nurses at the PEH who are currently accommodated at taxpayer expense in rented premises.

While there is an economic argument for that, it does jar. Underpinning the island's approach to welfare is that employment is key to well-being and that assistance is targeted at those who are unable to work or who cannot earn sufficient.

Nurses in the middle of their pay band will receive around £25,000 on NHS rates and so do not naturally fall into the social housing ethos envisaged for Cour du Parc.

And since there are 130 on the GHA waiting list alone – the sit-in at St Martin's Residential indicates the problem is far wider – the sooner a rebuilt Charroterie tower can be fully used for its core function the better.