Housing president Steve Williams welcomed the latest figures showing that homes under construction had hit a 10-year high.
But he warned that was only one part of the equation in meeting the island’s need for an additional 268–327 homes per year until 2028, known as the States Strategic Housing Indicator.
‘The number of homes under construction is a very useful indicator of the number of completed homes that will come forward, but it is quite difficult to talk directly about whether the rate under construction will meet the SSHI,’ said Deputy Williams.
‘For instance, if all the homes under construction at the end of quarter four in 2025 were completed within 2026, it would seem likely that the net number of homes would comfortably meet and possibly even exceed that target.
‘In reality, we know not all of those homes will be completed.’
In 2023, when housebuilding slumped to a low, the number of homes under construction at the end of the year was about 250, but the net increase in the island’s housing stock in 2024 was only 72.
‘This is why we are keen to increase not only the number of homes under construction as a metric of success in the short term, but also to increase the number of homes completed as a longer-term metric of success,’ said Deputy Williams.
‘The rate of construction needs to increase significantly, but we also need to focus on completed homes and net gains as the long-term metric of success.’
He said the committee’s main target was to have 250 social housing units completed or under construction by the end of the States’ term in the summer of 2029. That target excluded projects already under way, such as 70 units at Court Falaise, the former CI Tyres site in La Charroterie, and 69 units at the Mallard Complex. The committee plans to supplement those Guernsey Housing Association schemes with a new States-led affordable housing programme currently being developed.
‘The committee anticipates the imminent appointment of a development manager to lead this development programme,’ said Deputy Williams.
‘We intend to publish a policy letter before the end of the year, asking the States to release significant funding to get this work under way as soon as possible.’
He was confident that the current States could ‘significantly improve the rate of development’ if deputies backed his committee’s plans.