What do we do about 'landlordism'?

Monday 13 February 2023

"Supporting private landlordism of unaffordable, unhealthy and unsustainable homes is economically illiterate. Building more affordable homes at many price points linked to incomes would make a real difference."

The above is a quote from land economist Stephen Hill in a UK news article, which recently caught my eye and got me thinking yet again about Jersey's 'housing crisis'.

There is no doubt the use of the word ‘affordable’ in relation to housing on the island is just plain silly! It has been argued by housing experts and indeed economists and others that the term is now defunct, meaningless and even rather insulting for all those struggling with housing costs.

As far as I can ascertain we do not have a definition in Jersey for what the term ‘affordable housing’ actually means in reality and the word should be removed forthwith from the endless discussions.

Pictured: "As far as I can ascertain, we do not have a definition in Jersey for what the term ‘affordable housing’ actually means."

The debate about housing has been long, tiresome and will continue as the government seeks to find an answer to a very challenging issue, and one could be forgiven for thinking it will be a very long wait indeed. How many times must we hear that the Housing Minister and his team are working on it, and that Andium has an ongoing plan to build more homes?

Of course they do and need our support but really this is not addressing the issue. Housing is just too expensive and many islanders are struggling to afford the rent both within the private rental sector and social rental sector.

Recruitment of essential workers across the key sectors remains very challenging and the biggest barrier to attracting people into Jersey is the high cost of housing. We need affordable homes but without even a definition of what this means continues to exacerbate the problem. I have written before about the nonsensical use of a percentage of the market rate as the benchmark for setting rents.

Pictured: "Recruitment of essential workers across the key sectors remains very challenging and the biggest barrier to attracting people into Jersey is the high cost of housing."

As stated in the quote above, price points linked to incomes would indeed make a real difference but! How can this now be implemented as part of a brand new housing strategy?

Perhaps if the government were to use all the property under the stewardship of Property Holdings they might seek to develop a new and far more flexible system of housing provision.

Remove the current barriers for accessing so called ‘social housing’ and instead open it up to those much needed key workers we so clearly need and those already on the waiting list.

Adopting a system of price points based on household income would make affordability a much more realistic means to provide homes.

We need to build more homes based on this model which would in turn potentially drive down the high rents in the admittedly essential private sector as well.

Imagine if you will, how many affordable homes could be provided using the St. Saviours Hospital site or even the Folie Inn for example- both sites tragically unused for decades. There must be other sites around the island similarly unused that could be redeveloped by the government as the landlord?

Pictured: How many affordable homes could be provided using the St. Saviour's Hospital site or even the Folie Inn, for example? Both sites have been tragically unused for decades.

And what about existing rents within the current social housing portfolio of Andium and the housing trusts - could they not also be reimagined to reflect household incomes?

The question remains, therefore, does the Government of Jersey have a real commitment to providing homes that people can not only afford but become good stewards of for the long term benefit of everyone, not least the landlords themselves?

The island's housing crisis cannot in my view be addressed unless the government is willing to take a new and radical approach to the provision of affordable homes for all and this must include those employees we so desperately need to provide our essential services. 

As stated above, the continued support of unaffordable, unhealthy, unsuitable and unsustainable homes is economically illiterate. Hardly a good look for an island that promotes itself as an International Finance Centre. After all, as someone once said: 'It’s all about the economy, stupid!’