ESS president fears housing costs will drive out young
AN EXODUS of young people has been predicted by the new president of Employment & Social Security, unless the States tackles the unaffordable housing crisis.
Deputy Peter Roffey was elected unopposed to the role, after he gave a sobering analysis of some of the challenges ahead.
He said that if young people could not even aspire to own their own home, some would leave.
‘I think Guernsey faces a quiet but significant housing crisis, which threatens our community, our economy, our demographics and our prosperity.
‘If young people can’t reasonably afford to establish their own households in the island of their birth, then once the immediate effects of Covid-19 have passed, we will see an exodus of human capital that Guernsey can ill afford.’
The answer to the problem, he said, was ‘multi-layered’ and one solution was to redevelop some of the States properties so that they provided significantly more and better homes.
‘There are many other tired old housing estates that we are responsible for, where the homes are really not fit for the modern world. Not only are they poorly insulated – and that could be retro-fitted I know – but often they are simply the wrong size to meet current demands.’
Another issue on Deputy Roffey’s radar is how to make the ESS funds, especially the long-term care fund, sustainable, because they are all forecast to run out.
While none of the answers were deemed to be ‘pleasant or popular’, he pledged to be inventive and consider all the options.
He questioned whether people with relatively short contribution records to long-term care should get the same benefits as those who have paid in right from the start.
On the matter of anti-discrimination, Deputy Roffey vowed to be speedy and produce the policy letter that will allow religion and sexual orientation to move into phase one of the proposals.
Secondary pensions were highlighted as the best way to reduce future pensioner poverty, and Deputy Roffey promised to fight hard if ‘siren voices’ emerged to call for rethink on whether it was a good time to take money out of the economy.
Those voices were described as ‘very shallow short-termism’.
For the basic state pension, Deputy Roffey said it was a ‘bedrock’ that must be benchmarked against inflation and average earnings so that pensioners do not become relatively poorer.
Public service reform got its first mention of the day when Deputy Roffey made a bold commitment to cutting the costs of his department.
