Housing report is a ‘call to action’ says GHA chief exec
THE Guernsey Housing Association's chief executive officer considers the recent housing report to be a ‘call to action’ after it highlighted the extensive hardships islanders currently face in finding affordable housing.
Victoria Slade moved from Wales to Guernsey last October and even before landing in the Bailiwick found out the severity of the issues.
‘I did some research while applying for the position at the GHA and found a 2017 KPMG report that listed the income multiplier as 10, and it’s now at 16, which is just ridiculously acute,’ she said.
Problems within the private rental market were also highlighted by the review from consultants Arc4, showing average monthly rents exceeding £1,800, and that rental properties were of variable quality.
Ms Slade said this was impacting the quality of life of many islanders.
‘It’s almost double what is considered sustainable, which should be 30% of income. That’s a lot more manageable.
‘Housing is only one part of living well,’ she said.
‘While these figures are depressing we need to see this as a call to action. I’m a big fan of the Guernsey Housing Plan, it’s data-based, evidence-driven and groups together all the issues.’
The lack of social housing was yet another pitfall mentioned on the report, a problem which has been inflated over recent years by a spike in the island’s population.
Employment & Social Security president Deputy Peter Roffey said this was something that the States are currently working on, but would not be a quick fix.
‘Guernsey’s main provider of new social housing, the GHA, has run out of sites on which to develop. As a result there were only 16 units of new social housing last year, and I expect that to be zero this year, just at a time when demand has increased,’ said Deputy Roffey.
‘The States, through ESS, P&R and the Housing Action Group, has since bought, made available, or grant-funded several new sites for the GHA.
‘However, the lead-in time between purchase of sites and housing being available is a long one with first planning requirements, then tendering, then construction,’ he said. ‘As a result there has been a lacuna in new affordable housing provision at the worst possible time.’
Deputy Roffey added that his solution to the private rental crisis would be an increase in supply, which was only viable if construction costs stopped rising.
