THE Housing Minister has ‘defined’ homelessness in a bid to make the ‘invisible visible’.
Deputy David Warr has broken homelessness down into four core areas: rooflessness, houselessness, living in insecure housing and living in inadequate housing.
He said: ‘Jersey is not exempt from the challenges of homelessness, which, as this definition shows, can take on many forms and requires varied types of support and accommodation solutions to help vulnerable Islanders who are homeless or threatened with homelessness.’
Data on these four areas are being collected by Customer and Local Services.
‘Once we start pinning down these areas, we can start talking about making the invisible visible and we will get all those people sleeping on benches back on track,’ said Deputy Warr.
Explaining the reason for the four-part definition, he said: ‘It has to be broad. There aren’t too many people sleeping in tents on King Street.’
The minister, who has previously expressed frustration over a lack of information on the subject, admitted further data were needed to understand the true scale of homelessness.
He expects the new data to reveal the causes behind the problem by assessing topics such as what triggers sofa surfing and whether housing is considered adequate for new arrivals in Jersey.
Deputy Warr said: ‘There is still much more we need to do in gathering data more effectively to understand the scale so we can better address it.
‘I would be very disappointed if new data were not released by March 2023 to provide a clearer picture of homelessness.’
One local charity has said it would like to see more action taken.
Deputy Hilary Jeune, who is deputy co-chair of Jersey Association for Youth and Friendship, said: ‘We’ve seen the definition. Now we want to see some action.
‘We need to look at ourselves as an island if youth homelessness is increasing. We need fast implementation as we are a wealthy island.’
Deputy Jeune also confirmed that residents at the JAYF fell under all four categories of homelessness, as defined by Deputy Warr.
The JAYF provides safe and secure accommodation for people aged 18-25 and has 29 rooms, with a current waiting list of ten people.
Deputy Jeune said: ‘We are a stepping stone between insecure and inadequate housing for youngsters.’
JAYF fundraising and marketing manager Kate Kelly said: ‘When people talk about youth homelessness, they don’t think it exists in Jersey.’
The government hopes that a more precise definition of homelessness will better inform policies and procedures, and help secure accommodation.
World Homelessness Day, which takes place on Monday, aims to raise awareness and help to change the lives of homeless people in the community.
Deputy Warr said: ‘This definition, which I’m publishing ahead of World Homelessness Day this coming Monday, will help with that important objective.’
