The Housing Department announced last week that a raft of policies would be reviewed over the next 18 months aimed at improving the Island’s housing standards.
One of the key proposals to be reviewed is the scrapping of Jersey’s unqualified housing status in the rental market to give newcomers the same tenancy rights as Islanders.
At present, people arriving in Jersey can rent all types of property only when they have lived here for ten years, but the Strategic Housing Unit is considering scrapping restrictions to create a ‘single, equitable market’.
But backbencher Deputy Geoff Southern is concerned that if the Island’s housing market becomes more open, it could attract ‘a wave’ of immigrants to Jersey.
He said: ‘If accommodation is available to anybody with a job, it could open the gates for a large wave of migration which could be difficult to handle.
‘The fact is that we have a housing shortage and are struggling to cope with the population that we have got. I am concerned that the Council of Ministers are hell-bent on increasing the population.’
Businessman Roger Trower, the managing director of Broadlands estate agency, said that he was concerned that the move could ‘open the floodgates’ to immigrants. He said: ‘I cannot understand how the Strategic Housing Unit thinks that this move would be of benefit to the Island. It would open the flood gates to all EU and UK residents to move over here seeking work or just move here because of the quality of life and relatively low taxes.
‘Why do we bother to have restrictions on who you can employ when, on the other hand, we are allowing an open-door policy to be put in place?
‘The market in rental properties is already under-supplied, they want a cap on the number of Island residents and are desperate for the Island not to be overrun by even more people. How can this make any sense?’
He added, however, that he believed that immigrants with a job to come to in the Island should be able to rent ‘reasonable’ accommodation.
Senator Paul Routier, Assistant Chief Minister with responsibility for population matters, said that immigration would continue to be controlled by employment restrictions if non-qualified status was scrapped. He Routier pointed out that the current Employment Law only allows newcomers to work in Jersey if they have a licence.
He said: ‘I don’t think changing the housing restrictions should affect the population. Ninety per cent of people come to Jersey to work, and the employment restrictions would still apply, even if the housing restrictions were lifted. Last year we refused 400 registered licences to people wanting to work in the Island.’
Entitled
Someone who has lived in Jersey for 10 years
Can buy, sell or lease any property
Can work anywhere and doesn’t need a licence to be employed
Licensed
Someone who is an ‘essential employee’
Can buy, sell or lease any property, apart from first time buyer restricted or social rented housing, in their own name if they keep their ‘licensed’ status
Employer needs a licence to employ a ‘licensed’ person
Entitled to work
Someone who has lived in Jersey for five consecutive years immediately before the date the card is issued, or is married to someone who is ‘entitled’, ‘licensed’, or ‘entitled to work’
Can buy property jointly with an ‘entitled’ spouse / civil partner.
Can lease ‘registered’ (previously ‘unqualified’) property as a main place of residence.
Can work anywhere and doesn’t need a licence to be employed
Registered
Someone who does not qualify under the other categories
Can lease ‘registered’ property as a main place of residence
