Senator Sam Mézec (31) first joined the States Assembly as a Deputy for the St. Helier No. 2 district in 2014 age 23.
In 2018, he was elected with an island-wide mandate, topping the poll in St. Helier, and that year became Children and Housing Minister before stepping down in November 2020.
Throughout, he has led Reform Jersey, which current has five elected States Members and describes itself as the official ‘Opposition’ to government.
Senator Mézec said Reform Jersey do not want the island to return to “business as usual” in the wake of the pandemic, and will therefore be arguing for a ‘New Deal’ approach, with a particular focus on those affected by income inequality and the housing crisis.
He said he believed his hopeful new patch, St. Helier South, which encompasses the Waterfront, main town area and Havre des Pas, would especially benefit from Reform Jersey’s policies.
“People in St. Helier are deeply concerned by the lack of action there has been to resolve the housing crisis. There are efforts to build more and more homes in town, but little is being done to ensure these are genuinely affordable and that they aren’t simply bought by investors to rent out at extortionate prices,” Senator Mézec explained.
Pictured: Senator Mézec has previously pushed to increase the number of affordable homes at the Waterfront.
“Reform Jersey will be proposing a ‘Housing Crisis Action Plan’ to be implemented as a matter of urgency by the new government. As part of this, we will be proposing that the proposed developments on the Waterfront and South Hill are remodelled to deliver more affordable housing.
“I will not accept that huge amounts of publicly owned land in St. Helier South should given over for developments that do not command much public support, and which will be unlikely to deliver the type of urban regeneration town residents want to see.”
