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Political supporters of setting up a new housing committee will have to wait a little longer to debate the idea, after the group proposing it said it would back a several month delay so the 2025 budget can be considered first.
Deputy Sasha Kazantseva Miller, who is leading the charge to launch the dedicated housing committee which would absorb the responsibilities and powers held across several others, said she and the other petition signatories felt a delay was justified to make sure they “get it right and make the best decisions for Guernsey”.
Policy & Resources will ask the States to delay the debate until December at next week's States meeting, saying deputies need the “full picture” of public finances before deciding to spend more money setting up a new committee with dedicated officers and a political board.
It said big decisions will need to be made on infrastructure and indicated that there may be unaccounted for costs in the Committee for Housing plan.
“The short postponement of the debate will not have a material effect on the implementation date as the Requête seeks to establish the Committee from the beginning for the next political term in July 2025,” Deputy Kazantseva-Miller noted.
Former P&R President Deputy Peter Ferbrache, who is backing the housing committee plan, said he understood the desire to delay and that it was financially responsible to do so.
“Given the well-known position of our public finances we want to make sure that decisions made are financially prudent and that we have the right level of support and prioritisation for key issues affecting community,” he said.
“P&R would not have taken the proposal to delay lightly, and we respect their reasoning as the senior Committee responsible for the budget process.”
Pictured: Next weeks States meeting looks to have been cut short before it started.
The group, which includes Deputies Kazantseva-Miller, Ferbrache, Marc Leadbeater, David Mahoney, Nick Moakes, Carl Meerveld, and Victoria Oliver, are seeking £155,000 from the budget, and the cash allocated for housing in three other committees, to set it up by 1 July 2025 - by which time the next States will be in office.
They believe it will speed up public and private housebuilding and make accountability over those policies clearer.
But their views have been roundly criticised by the States departments currently tasked with housing who say it will add complexity and cost far more than predicted.
“The rate of homebuilding is completely inadequate and needs to increase four times, if we were to meet the indicator of 1,500 new homes by 2027. There has not been any meaningful change in the rate of homebuilding since the States Strategic Housing Indicator was approved in March 2023”, Deputy Kazantseva-Miller said.
“We have no confidence that maintaining the status quo will achieve what is required and a step-change in approach is essential.”
Deputy Moakes, who recently penned a letter to Express calling for joined up thinking on housing, said the debate so far has been positive.
“We are pleased to see that the Requête has brought into sharp focus the States’ delivery on housing, provoking increased levels of discussion and consideration,” he said.
“The short delay will allow deputies and community more time to review what is being done and how and whether we can afford to keep the same system ticking along.”
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