No immediate change to social housing rent policy, despite review revealing gaps

A review into social housing rents has revealed several issues, but no immediate changes will be made.

Current policy sets social housing rents at no more than 80% of market value 

Jersey's Housing Minister has told Channel 103 tenants of social housing providers will not see any drastic changes because it is too close to the end of the government's term.

However, Deputy Sam Mezec says his department will start work on filling some of the gaps revealed by the review.

It was brought about by a proposal last year from Deputy Raluca Kovacs, who raised concerns in the States Assembly about the level of 'rental stress' in the island.

That is defined as when  low-income households spend more than 30% of their gross income on rent.

Deputy Mezec said:

"There won't be any immediate shift to a new system because there just isn't enough time.

"But one of the things the review found is that there are some gaps that we could probably get on with now and start tweaking, and start getting people working together to make sure people aren't put in undue hardship."

One of the issues identified is that some islanders with empty nests are not moving out of larger homes, because it may actually be more expensive to rent a smaller new-build.

The review says that it is up to social housing providers to amend this, and gave an example of 'maintaining existing rents for right-sizing tenants' or introducing 'gradual rent increases to ease the transition'.

When questioned further about the latter suggestion, the Housing Minister said he does not believe there should be an approach that forces people or breaks up communities.

"At the moment, the rules stop social housing providers from working with those people who may have a three or four-bedroom home because their children have grown up, but don't want to downsize because it would be more expensive for them to do so.

"I think with some tweaks to those rules, we could have a fair and compassionate way of giving people that support to move to a more appropriately sized home."

Another suggestion by Deputy Sam Mezec is to collaborate with Income Support and providers to simplify the process for people transitioning into social housing.

"If you've got carpets or white goods and moving costs, which if you're not able to afford upfront, that will be something you struggle to pay back over a long time."