Housing commission proposed to speed up building of homes

The housing commission would be driven by the private sector working under strategic direction set by the States. Its principal role would be to accelerate the island’s sluggish rate of housebuilding.

Deputies will be asked next week to agree to set up a commission as a company limited by guarantee in the first six months of this year, as an alternative to a requete currently under debate which proposes creating a new States committee for housing after June’s general election.

‘This amendment proposes establishing a small, agile group of people with relevant experience, skills and expertise and with the necessary autonomy and delegated authority to achieve the States’ objectives and deliver housing more expeditiously, with a lead who would become the island’s housing delivery champion,’ said Environment & Infrastructure president Lindsay de Sausmarez, who is bringing forward the amendment.

‘There are some functions relating to housing, especially around the delivery of new units of housing, that would be more effective outside of government, and this amendment proposes the immediate establishment in this political term of a housing commission to take these functions on.

‘This will streamline government and improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of meeting the island’s housing needs.’

The motion before deputies will vote, which will be seconded by Policy & Resources vice-president Deputy Heidi Soulsby, directs P&R to set up a housing commission by 30 June which would work with interested parties – including landowners, developers, investors, the construction industry and the Guernsey Housing Association – ‘to facilitate and drive forward the delivery of housing’.

The idea of a commission has come out of a public-private housing forum set up previously by E&I.

Those behind the proposal see it as the best way of accelerating housebuilding, following two years in which only one unit of social housing was built and several years in which the private sector built fewer homes than hoped, leaving the island well short of the 300 or so new units needed annually.

They also believe the commission would cost less than the estimated minimum of £310,000 a year to set up a States committee for housing, and generate profits for re-investment into the supply of housing.

‘The creation of an additional committee of the States, as proposed in the requete, would increase the size, cost, complexity and bureaucracy of government, add to the States’ administrative burden, and further draw the responsibility for the delivery of housing into government and away from the private sector,’ said Deputy de Sausmarez.

‘E&I can redirect up to £100,000 a year from its existing budget from 2025 onwards to meet the operational costs of a housing commission as needed.

'Funding needed for any additional projects over time would in the first instance be sought from re-prioritised general revenue funding if it could not be raised through external partners.’

The GHA would continue as the States’ primary partner for providing social housing, but the commission would play the role of a more flexible ‘delivery vehicle’ first envisaged in a housing plan published by E&I 18 months ago.

Deputies who want a commission have said it would be fully accountable to the States, although the amendment does not specify further details about how.

New housing commission mandate

The amendment proposing a new housing commission, which deputies will vote on next week, states that its mandate will include:

A role as a delivery vehicle to directly provide new housing and work with other parties (such as developers, housing associations and investors) to facilitate and drive forward housing delivery;

Liaising between industry and the States to further facilitate housing development and remove barriers to development, as well as identifying sites;

Facilitating joint ventures between private market and affordable housing market providers or to encourage specific offerings, e.g. key worker housing, tenures suitable for older people and housing to support the economy;

Being a conduit for investment and funding options, including build-to-rent projects;

Providing information, signposting and support for housing developers and the construction sector and providing a single, streamlined and effective route into government; and

Working with the States, the Guernsey Housing Association and the Guernsey Development Agency to prioritise infrastructure delivery in the island that will support and enable housing delivery.