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Common Strategic Policy (P.98/2022): sixth amendment (P.98/2022 Amd.(6)) – amendment

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STATES OF JERSEY

COMMON STRATEGIC POLICY (P.98/2022): SIXTH AMENDMENT (P.98/2022 AMD.(6)) – AMENDMENT

Lodged au Greffe on 15th November 2022 by the Council of Ministers

Earliest date for debate: 22nd November 2022

STATES GREFFE

2022  P.98 Amd.(6) Amd.

COMMON STRATEGIC POLICY (P.98/2022): SIXTH AMENDMENT

(P.98/2022 AMD.(6)) AMENDMENT

____________

1  PAGE 2, PART 1 –

For sub-paragraphs (ii) to (v), substitute the following sub-paragraph –

"(ii) after the final paragraph there should be inserted the following sentence –

"We will do this through coordinated and sustained action that tackles the cost of living and housing crisis, in line with clear commitments made in the Council of Minister's Ministerial Plans and responding effectively to the changing economic environment."."

2  PAGE 2, PART 2 –

For the proposed sub-paragraph (i) substitute the following sub-paragraph –

"(i) in the Continue to improve' section of the table for Housing and Cost of

Living, there should be inserted the words "increase the number and standard of private rental homes with Rent Safe accreditation"."

3  PAGE 2, PART 2 –

In the proposed sub-paragraph (ii), for the second, third and fourth bullet points, substitute the following bullet points –

"-  increase the number of long-term vacant homes brought back into use;

- increase the number of first-time buyer homes; and

- increase the number of people housed through the Affordable Housing Gateway."

 COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

Note:  After  this  amendment,  the  amendment  of   Deputy   Mézec  would  read  as follows –

1  PAGE 2 –

After the words "report of this Proposition" insert the words ", except that, on page 11 of the report –

  1. in the third paragraph, the words "Housing matters" should be substituted with the words "Jersey has a housing crisis";
  2. after the final paragraph there should be inserted the following sentence –

"We will do this through coordinated and sustained action that tackles the cost of living and housing crisis, in line with clear commitments made in the Council of Minister's Ministerial Plans and responding effectively to the changing economic environment."."

2  PAGE 2 –

After the words "report of this Proposition" insert the words – ", except that, on page 18 of the report –

  1. in the Continue to improve' section of the table for Housing and Cost of Living, there should be inserted the words "increase the number and standard of private rental homes with Rent Safe accreditation"; and
  2. in the Turn the curve' section of the table for Housing and Cost of Living, after the words "housing that is affordable" there should be inserted the following words – "

- Decrease the proportion of renters classed as living in rental stress';

- increase the number of long-term vacant homes brought back into use;

- increase the number of first-time buyer homes; and

- increase the number of people housed through the Affordable Housing Gateway."

Note:  After this amendment, the proposition would read as follows –

THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion

in accordance with Article 18(2)(e) of the States of Jersey Law 2005, to approve the statement of the Common Strategic Policy of the Council of Ministers as set out in the report of this Proposition, except that on page 11 of the report –

  1. in  the  third  paragraph,  the  words  "Housing  matters"  should  besubstituted with the words "Jersey has a housing crisis";
  2. after  the  final  paragraph  there  should  be  inserted  the  following sentence –

"We will do this through coordinated and sustained action that tackles the cost of living and housing crisis, in line with clear commitments made in the Council of Minister's Ministerial Plans and responding effectively to the changing economic environment."

and, except that on page 18 of the report –

  1. in the Continue to improve' section of the table for Housing and Costof Living, there should be inserted the words "increase the number and standard of private rental homes with Rent Safe accreditation";and
  2. in the Turn the curve' section of the table for Housing and Cost of Living, after the words "housing that is affordable" should be inserted the following words – "

- Decrease the proportion of renters classed as living in rental stress';

- increase the number of long-term vacant homes brought back into use;

- increase the number of first-time buyer homes; and

- increase the number of people housed through the Affordable Housing Gateway."

REPORT

Jersey has a housing and a cost-of-living crisis; and we are responding to this.

We are clear on the need for action and have recognised this through the actions we have already taken and those which we have proposed for the future.

Deputy Mézec 's amendment seeks to reinforce the point that Jersey has a housing crisis. We agree that it does and accept part (i) of the original amendment; echoing the words we had already recognised in our Common Strategic Policy and Ministerial Plans.

We also accept that we can include additional performance measures for housing and cost of living in the Common Strategic Policy. Our ability to see and measure our progress is important and thus we have proposed changes to the performance indicators proposed by Deputy Mézec , to ensure we can do just that.

Deputy Mézec 's amendment highlights that our Common Strategic Policy lists some laudable high-level ambitions on how we will address the housing crisis. We are pleased this is the case - we are serious about action.

We have provided more detail on how we will deliver on our strategic commitments, through our comprehensive Ministerial Plans. We published these plans only a week after we presented our Common Strategic Policy to the Assembly.

Our Ministerial Plans are comprehensive. They deal with the Council of Ministers' first year's actions, which will be resourced through the Government Plan and updated annually as we progress through our term in office. Our approach is focused and transparent.

The plans of Ministers also give us the capability to respond to the ever-changing economic landscape we find ourselves in.

Any response to the housing and cost of living crisis must consider the recent dramatic economic changes – which the Reform Jersey Housing Crisis Action Plan, published earlier this year, does not.

Government policies must also be properly researched, assessed, and costed – which is what we are doing in a whole raft of policy areas, as outlined in the table below.

It is for these reasons we cannot accept parts (ii)-(v) of Deputy Mézec 's amendment, which seeks to insert Reform Jersey's housing action plan into the Common Strategic Policy.

It is not the role of the Common Strategic Policy to comprehensively list specific policy initiatives. It is also not the role of the Common Strategic Policy to bind the Assembly to initiatives that have not been fully tested, nor costed.

Our proposed amendment to parts (ii)-(v) seeks to appropriately direct the Common Strategic Policy to the Ministerial Plans, whilst recognising that we need to remain agile to respond to our changing economic environment and the needs of islanders.

Policies and actions to address the housing crisis

We agree that there already exist helpful frameworks we can build from – such as the work of the Housing Policy Development Board in 2019-21 – to guide us through some of the housing challenges we are facing today. Equally, we must be clear that we are facing new and even-greater challenges now, with an imperative to execute our response to  the  housing  crisis  in  this  context.  The  challenges  our  island  is  facing  require coordinated and sustained action and our responses need to address the issues of today, whilst not creating new issues for the future or leading to unintended consequences.

Our Ministerial Plans establish the policy areas we are pursuing to take Jersey in the right direction. We have not proposed to hold more reviews or re-run exercises before taking action on housing. Our commitment is to take a measured approach. We will not be pursuing careless policy making: the stakes are too high. We will only pursue actions where we have confidence that they will take Jersey in the right direction and will support islanders in the right way.

It is helpful to reflect on the policy commitments being proposed by amendment 6; what they mean; and how they align to what we are already doing:

 

Action  proposed  by Deputy Mézec

Response

Increasing the proportion of homes  required  to  be designated as affordable' in large  private  sector developments

This action seeks to amend the parameters of Policy

H6 of the Bridging Island Plan, which comes into   force in January 2023. The current policy is both timed

and set at a level to ensure that developers are able to

plan for and manage the impact of the policy before it

takes effect.

As   Deputy   Mézec  highlights,  this  policy  was introduced  [as  amended  by  the  Minister  for  the Environment], following his initiative to pursue the policy with the Assembly. The amended version of the policy was unanimously agreed, with the Assembly recognising  the  importance  of  ensuring  that development remains viable. If development is not viable, it will not be brought forward. There is a fine balance with a policy of this nature: provide more affordable homes or provide no homes at all.

There is an unusual level of flexibility in Policy H6, which was included to make sure the Minister is able to review the parameters of the policy, when the time is right.

Since the Island Plan was approved earlier this year, much has changed. We are facing a global economic crisis, labour and workforce shortages and ongoing supply  chain  issues.  Interest  rates  are  increasing, making  both  development  financing  and  buying  a home more difficult.

 

 

The  Minister  for  the  Environment  is  already committed to reviewing the policy and will do so when there is sufficient evidence to suggest such an increase to the policy will not prevent housing delivery. As such, the proposed insertion is considered pre-emptive and unnecessary.

Introducing a first right of refusal'  for  private  sector tenants to purchase their homes when their landlord decides to sell

We cannot commit to introducing a first right of refusal' for private sector tenants.

It is difficult to understand what specific benefits this would bring to a sitting tenant. If a tenant is in a position to buy a property they are currently renting, they will already have the ability to offer market value when the property is put on the market.

The issue of security of tenure will not be addressed by this policy and no supporting evidence has been provided by Deputy Mézec to support the case. The insertion should not be supported.

Changes to the Residential Tenancy Law are currently under development and these will  seek to address security of tenure issues. These will be presented to the  Assembly  as  soon  as  they  are  available.  This commitment  is  already  set  out  in  the  Council  of Minister's Ministerial Plans.

Establishing a shared-equity scheme  to  support  first- time-buyers attempting to purchase their first homes in the private sector, using the £10m  fund  set  aside  in previous

Government Plans.

The  commitment  to  introduce  schemes  to  support ownership by utilising the £10m fund is already made in  the  Minister  for  Housing  and  Communities Ministerial Plan and the proposed Government Plan.

Deputy   Mézec 's  amendment  quite  specifically requires the £10million to be used for a shared-equity scheme  to  support  private  sector  purchases'  but provides little evidence to demonstrate whether this will  represent  the  greatest  value  for  money  and achieves the best outcome in terms of improving first- time buyers' access to homes. As already stated, it is important that these monies are used to address the issues of today, whilst not creating new issues for the future or leading to unintended consequences.

Its insertion to the CSP is unnecessary.

Requiring all homes built on publicly-owned  land  to  be for first-time-buyers, social  rental  housing  or downsizers

Deputy Mézec sought to achieve this policy aspiration in the Bridging Island Plan through an amendment, which was accepted by the Assembly, as amended by the Minister for the Environment. This policy already exists within Policy H5 of the Bridging Island Plan, as follows:

 

 

 

 

This insertion should not be accepted as it  would severely damage our ability to provide other important public benefits through the development of homes on publicly owned land.

Introducing Property Tax

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This insertion is pre-emptive to the outcome of the Minister  for  Housing  and  Communities  report  in response to P.48/2022, which asks the Minister to present options to the States Assembly to discourage properties being left vacant for long periods of time. The Minister is in the process of finalising his report, which will be presented to the Assembly by the end of November.

This report will set out a series of actions that the Minister is undertaking to tackle the issue of vacant homes, including a further package of policy options with the Minister's position in relation to them. Before making a commitment to further piecemeal reform of the property tax system, the Assembly should consider this report.

 

Re-introducing the landlord licensing scheme originally proposed  by  previous Environment  and  Housing Ministers;

It is important to be clear that the insertion incorrectly refers to landlords licencing. This is not correct. Draft regulations have been previously brought to licence rented dwellings, not landlords.

It  is  unclear  what  was  specifically  meant  by  this proposed insertion, given that different versions of regulations  to  licence  rented  dwellings  were considered  by  the  previous  Assembly.  However, Deputy   Mézec 's  report  highlights  the  need  to implement a scheme that would provide the Housing and Nuisance team of Environmental and Consumer Protection  with  the  tools  needed  to  help  keep properties  safe  and  habitable  for  their  tenants  and crack down on illegal tenancy practices which are currently causing issues for many Islanders without a proper route for recourse.

A proposition is already being developed with urgency to  bring  these  measures  forward.  This  is  already committed to through both the CSP and Ministerial Plans.

Proposing a new Residential Tenancy Law to provide for European-style

rent stabilisation and open- ended tenancies

Changes to the Residential Tenancy Law are being developed as a matter of priority. These will look to introduce rent stabilisation measures and open-ended tenancies. This commitment has already been made and also raised in the Ministerial Plans. Full details on the proposed measures will be made available to the Assembly as soon as they are ready.

Moving  to  a  means-tested system for calculating social housing rents

This  proposed  insertion  represents  a  fundamental change to the social housing rents policy and income support system in Jersey. The proposed move has not been properly thought through, impact assessed nor costed.

Should  the  States  Assembly  wish  to  consider  an alternative model for social housing rents in Jersey, it must do so with great care and consideration. The CSP is not the place to make a sweeping commitment to do something  that  could  lead  to  catastrophic consequences  not  only  to  existing  social  housing tenants, but also to future social housing delivery.

It must be recognised that the current 80% cap within the social rents policy represents the maximum rental fee. Most tenants pay well below 80%  - with the average paying approximately 70% and a fifth paying 60% or less. It also must be recognised that a majority of social rented tenants have their rent fully recognised

 

 

in their income –support calculation – a means-tested system for establishing individual needs.

The assertion made in the report that social renters subsidise' Treasury by around £10m a year must also be challenged. This is simply not the case. The 80% cap on social rents acts a direct subsidy to all social- renters, to the value of approximately £24m per year. The majority of these tenants are further subsidised by the  income  support  system  by  approximately  £19 million per year.

Andium  make  an  annual  return  to  Government  in exchange  for  the  approximately  £675  million  of housing assets which were transferred at no cost to Andium on 1 July 2014; this collectively represents a very significant subsidy by the public of Jersey to support social renters, underpinning the success of the high-quality  social  housing  that  Jersey  is  now fortunate to now have.

This insertion should not be supported.

Implementing  the recommendations  of  the Homelessness Strategy

Implementing  the  recommendations  of  the homelessness strategy is an existing commitment. The Minister for Housing and Communities has been very clear in his desire to address homelessness in Jersey, and  this  is  made  as  a  clear  commitment  in  his Ministerial Plan.

We urge members to review our Ministerial Plans, to consider the points we have made in relation to the changes to the CSP being proposed by Deputy Mézec , and to accept our amendment to amendment 6 of P.98/2022.

Performance measures

We agree that creating visibility of our progress and accountability is very important. This can however only be created by indicators that can be effectively measured, with meaningful outputs. We have proposed some changes to Deputy Mézec 's proposed measures to allow us to achieve this. We have made every attempt to work with the theme of measures that were originally proposed, and recommend that the Assembly accept our proposed amendments.

Additional information

The Government Programme: key documents

The below graphic explains the purposes of each of the Government Programme publications:

Ministerial Plans

COPY OF PUBLISHED MINISTERIAL PLANS

Financial and manpower implications

The financial and manpower implications of Ministerial Plans are set out in the proposed Government Plan 2023.

Related Publications

Propositions

Common Strategic Policy 4 October 2022

Votes

Vote: Adopted 22 November 2022

Minutes

Hansard