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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT BY DEPUTY G.P. SOUTHERN OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 26th FEBRUARY 2008
Question
- In answerto a written question on 12th February 2008 the Minister stated that "Adopting the Jersey Homebuy scheme proposed enables those people who cannot afford to acquire first-time buyer homes at the market rate to purchase their own home. In the absence of such a scheme, they will have to rent property in the local market which would include the social rented sector", implying that the proposed "JerseyHomebuy"schemewouldbe open to thosewhowould normally be in the social rental sector. Would the Minister statewhetheror not this isindeed the case?
Answer
The Minister for Housing and I are proposing that Jersey Homebuy dwellings would be available to qualifying first time buyers through a system of financial means testing known as a gateway'. That will include some of those in the social rented sector. This would be managed by the Housing Department in a similar way to its existing waiting list for States rental accommodation.
- Will the Minister give realistic estimatesof how muchmoneywillbereleased over thelongerterm into the provision of additional housing from the 35%of the resale price of the "JerseyHomebuy" houses and state when it is anticipated that such sums will berealised?
Answer
If the purchaser sells a property that has been purchased under the Jersey Homebuy scheme, the sale will have to be to a first time buyer who would then pay 100% of the prevailing first time buyer value. The seller would take away 65% of the sale proceeds and the other 35% would be retained by a not-for-profit body. The retained money would be re-invested into affordable housing provision to be ascertained at the time. However it is unlikely that significant sums would materialise for many years as the generation of funds depends entirely on the home owners deciding when, or if, they wish to sell.
It is not possible to say how much money will be realised from the resale of Jersey Homebuy properties or at what point that money will be realised simply because we do not know when the buyer will sell that house on.