P&R looks at timing of funding social housing developments

The Assembly backed a move by Employment & Social Security president Peter Roffey last year which was intended to make available up to £150m. of repayable debt financing to the Guernsey Housing Association.

Policy & Resources is now trying to work out the details of the scheme.

‘Treasury has been working with the GHA to understand its funding requirements to ensure that the right level of debt is taken out at the appropriate time,’ said P&R president Lyndon Trott.

‘It is critical to ensure debt is not taken out too early to prevent unnecessary financing charges, or too late to prevent the GHA from meeting its development priorities. This timing, along with the quantum required, is currently being assessed alongside the other funding requirements of the States.’

Deputies have agreed that the island will need about 720 new social housing and key workers’ units by 2027.

That figure is believed to have increased since then, after annual population statistics revealed that the number of people living in Guernsey had grown faster than at any time in more than 30 years.

In answer to Rule 14 questions submitted by Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller, P&R said that funding was already earmarked for hundreds of those units, but not all of them.

‘The current affordable housing development programme, expected to be delivered with the current capital funding allocation, should deliver in the region of 400 units, noting that this figure is indicative-only at this stage and subject to planning permissions and viable development proposals being put forward,’ said Deputy Trott.

‘A bid for an additional capital allocation for the affordable housing development programme will be made as part of the next round of capital prioritisation.’

For the past two decades, all new social housing units have been supplied by the GHA, but during the current States term senior politicians have questioned whether the association would be able to provide the 700 or so required over the next few years.

Deputy Trott himself told a Scrutiny hearing that the GHA’s appetite for new developments was ‘not what it was’, a claim which was quickly denied by its chief executive, Vic Slade, and speculated about setting up a second housing association. And Deputy Roffey has previously indicated that the States may be prepared to restart housebuilding itself.

In reply to the latest Rule 14 questions, Deputy Trott said that ‘other delivery methods for affordable housing’ were still under consideration.

‘This is particularly pertinent following the States resolution to zero-rate policy GP11 which, before zero-rating, was intended to deliver in the region of 250 affordable housing units,’ he said.

No details were provided about the timetable for reviewing the additional schemes which could accelerate the development of social housing. In reply to a separate set of Rule 14 questions, also submitted by Deputy Kazantseva-Miller, ESS explained that there was no difference in the average capital grant provided by the States to the GHA for social housing, partial ownership units and key workers’ accommodation.

‘These tenures are general needs housing units, with no specific construction or design features,’ said Deputy Roffey.

‘The units are designed in this way so that the unit tenures can be interchangeable and flexed depending on the prevailing tenure demands over time.’

But capital grants for specialised housing were generally larger because of higher development costs.

Deputy Kazantseva-Miller is leading a requete which proposed recreating a separate housing committee. A States debate on the requete has been deferred until December.