Six civil servants at £70k each needed for action on housing
A grab for cash and staff is being made by the Environment & Infrastructure Committee in a bid to spike the guns of deputies who want to establish a dedicated Housing Committee after next year’s election.
E&I has calculated that six civil servants, paid an average of £70,000 each, is what it will take to accelerate the delivery of its housing priorities. It said that would be more cost effective in delivering housing priorities.
‘The resource is exclusively focused on frontline delivery and does not incur any costs relating to political and civil service restructuring,’ said E&I president Lindsay de Sausmarez in an amendment to the requete being brought by Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller. She said that the States' own Housing Plan, which E&I published an update for last week, set out a clear and strategically sensible pathway to tackling the island’s housing issues, with many workstreams set to be completed in the next nine months before the election.
It was money to pay for more staff which would release many of the bottlenecks in delivery, she said.
‘The rate of delivery on housing priorities fundamentally comes down to the dedicated frontline officer resource in the Housing & Infrastructure Team.
'The requete retains the existing level of resource dedicated to housing policy work, so, if it is supported, housing priorities cannot be delivered any faster than the current timeline,’ Deputy de Sausmarez said.
It has made a bid for more staff and money as part of the 2025 Budget process. If successful, the amendment would confirm that request and speed it up.
Deputy de Sausmarez said that the proposed new committee was looking for funding for the president’s pay uplift and additional people for its secretariat function which would have no impact on frontline delivery.
The only thing blocking progress on the Housing Plan was a lack of officer resource to deliver the work planned, she said.
‘The requete will not in and of itself deliver the priorities any faster than under the existing structure.
‘Fundamentally, it is quite simple – the propositions do not increase the dedicated officer resource to carry out the policy work required.
‘By contrast, this amendment will enable the accelerated delivery of the States’ housing objectives, because if successful it will increase the dedicated policy officer resource and therefore increase the States’ capacity to deliver the work.’
E&I said that three policy officers, two of them at senior levels, would be the minimum level of resource needed to make a ‘meaningful difference’ to the rate of delivery. It is also pushing to add a further three officers at a total cost of £430,000 a year.
Among the projects they could work on in the next few months are options for investment in affordable housing; a review of rent control; the introduction of a statutory deposit scheme; work on a homelessness policy; energy efficiency; a stock condition survey; and proposals for first-time buyers.
E&I is one of three States committees to have come out against the proposed requete for a Housing Committee, with Policy & Resources seeking to delay debate on the proposal until after the Budget.
Two States members involved in the requete, including Development & Planning Authority president Victoria Oliver, have in turn criticised the Housing Programme, accusing the States of working in ‘silos’.
