E&I makes its case for legal minimum housing standards
THE importance of enshrining some minimum housing standards in law was emphasised by members who supported proposals from Environment & Infrastructure and opposed the sursis laid by Deputy Kazantseva-Miller.
E&I president Lindsay de Sausmarez, whose committee was responsible for bringing the legislation to the States, said it was a ‘sorry situation’ that Guernsey had no effective means of ensuring that islanders could access the ‘fairly fundamental right’ of minimum standards of housing.
She warned the problems this had caused islanders who had been victim of poor living conditions – several of whom were alluded to during the debate – would not be able to be addressed for more than a year, should the sursis succeed.
‘The problem is we do not have the legislative enforcement powers to sufficiently address the problems, and that is why this housing standards legislation is necessary,’ she said.
The knock-on effects of the lack of minimum housing standards on people’s health were raised by Deputies Heidi Soulsby and Tina Bury.
Deputy Soulsby said standards of housing and supporting the poorest people in the community – who tended to be those who lived in rented accommodation – should be prioritised by elected representatives.
‘In the States the biggest costs come from health and social care, people who are ill,’ she said.
‘Who are the people who are ill? The people who are generally the poorest in our community.
‘If we care about keeping our health and social care bills down, we need to look at how we can prevent people from getting ill in the first place.’
Deputy Bury said that housing was a wider social determinant of health that had both a physical and mental impact on people.
‘If we want people to be productive members of our community they need stability,’ she said.
She added the optics of delaying the legislation would be ‘terrible’.
‘’What’s in the sursis doesn’t actually direct any changes in the ordinance, so it’s not achieving what we’re being told through the narrative of debate that it’s going to achieve.
‘It’s just delaying, and the worst thing is that [members] don’t even see it.’
Deputy Simon Fairclough criticised the ‘lack of risk appetite’ for those voting for the sursis, and called on members to take some responsibility.
‘If [delaying the legislation] is not kicking the can down the road, I don’t know what is,’ he said.
‘But this isn’t a can, it’s people’s most basic needs.’
