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Political responsibility for Guernsey’s only dedicated emergency accommodation will shift.
States members have backed transferring St Julian's House from the hands of Health & Social Care into Employment & Social Security - or a dedicated new housing committee should that eventually win backing when it's debated in the new year.
Debate in the States also shifted onto what the future of the facility, built in 1832 and with fewer than 30 beds, should be with some calls to sell the building off and more suitable accommodation be provided instead.
Deputy Gavin St Pier was behind the proposal to shift its control out of HSC during last week's States meeting.
"It is the facility that time, and indeed, the entire government system has pretty much forgotten," he said.
The medium to long term solution was almost certainly to bulldoze and redevelop it and given its prime location to use the value realised to build a better purpose built facility somewhere else, he acknowledged.
"However, that should not stop us making the correction that is now required."
It was not a hospital environment, he said.
"It is no different to the other facilities which exist, for example, extra care housing, which sits under the Guernsey Housing Association, in which there are tenants who will need support from Health & Social Care, who will go in and treat those individuals in the community. It is just wholly inappropriate that it is treated as a hospital environment."
He had opportunistically tacked his amendment on to a requete proposing a new dedicated housing committee.
Debate on that will continue, having been postponed until January.
"Let's at least move the operational part of this facility as it now is, from where it definitely shouldn't be, Health & Social Care, to somewhere that is at least a little bit more appropriate, either the committee for housing or the committee for Employment and Social Security."
ESS did not support the move at this time because work was about to happen on homelessness which could propose a different solution.
"It just seems logical to make the policy decision of St Julians in the context of that work," said Deputy Roffey.
It does need a radical change and probably a brand new site, he said.
Environment & Infrastructure is the committee that will be reporting on homeless. Its President Lindsay de Sausmarez said that would start as early as possible in January.
She voiced concerns from officers of the risk of going through the whole process of the transfer and then finding there might have been a better solution and so causing couple handling.
"I do think that due process should be allowed to take its course."
The majority of Health & Social Care members backed the change, although its president Al Brouard was opposed.
Deputy Aiden Matthews said: "St Julian's was, possibly, in its day, considered a convenient way to move rough sleepers out of shop windows and into somewhere where they could be out of sight.
"I think it's getting used for more and more purposes now. It's not in good conditions, it's something that does need work. The whole issue of emergency accommodation for people is something that really does need to be grasped much more fully than it has been to date, because it's becoming much more of an issue than it had been in the past. So I think it's the right thing to do to move it."
Deputy Neil Inder argued that the property should be sold off - it was a prime site in the middle of town that was costly to refurbish, he said.
LISTEN: Hopes for States to get more hands on with homelessness
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