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2016.11.01
3.8 Connétable C.H. Taylor of St. John of the Minister for Housing regarding the definition of household' used in her work and that of the Department: [9668]
Will the Minister advise, what definition of household is applied for her work and that of her department? Given that definition, how many households are there on the Island?
Deputy A.E. Pryke of Trinity (The Minister for Housing):
For the purposes of housing and planning related work we use the Statistics Unit definition of a household, which is one person living alone or a group of people living together at the same address, though not necessarily related, who share a shopping bill, eat together and share the same living space. The Statistics Unit is updating the household projections based on the latest population figures but using 2013 household projections as a baseline, a resident population of 102,700 would equate to approximately 45,400 households.
- The Connétable of St. John :
Is the Minister able to give an average number of occupants within each household? The Deputy of Trinity :
No, I am not. I do not know if that data is available but I can certainly ask and come back to the Constable.
- Senator P.F.C. Ozouf :
Would the Minister agree that one of the challenges that societies face in Jersey and elsewhere around the world is the fact that due to the changing nature of society, 3-generation families now are rarer, young people tend to get married and start a family much older and, therefore, the number of households in the Island does increase at a faster rate than population?
The Deputy of Trinity :
Yes, I would but also, as the Constable said, we are an ageing society and we all want to stay in our own homes and a Government policy is to look after people in their own homes, so obviously it is going to change.
- Deputy M. Tadier :
Does the Minister also accept, of course, that there is a housing shortage in Jersey and that the housing is very expensive, especially for renters? People are required to share housing, often among their friends and perhaps work mates but also that young people tend to stay at home much longer nowadays because of the difficulty of renting and certainly no aspiration of buying, so it is very much a 2-way street and that is why it is important to have up to date figures out there.
The Deputy of Trinity :
Yes, figures are important and this is what the Stats Units have been doing with the latest Housing Needs Survey. I cannot think what else the Deputy said, I am sorry.
Deputy M. Tadier :
I think it is just to acknowledge the fact that while there have been social changes about multi-family generations living together, of course, there is a counter trend where younger people are staying at home. In the long term, in the balance of it, it could be balancing out but it is important to have those figures to monitor demographic and social changes.
The Deputy of Trinity :
Yes, but on the other side of that we need to continue to build and what was in the Island Plan, which is being rezoned and the private development, we need to continue to get that supply. But not only up and down, we need a constant level of supply going forward.
- The Connétable of St. John :
It is just with respect to the Draft Budget that we are due to debate later in this Assembly. It states on page 6 that there are 60,000 households on the Island. I was wondering if the Minister might help me as to whether discrepancy has arisen.
The Deputy of Trinity :
No. He is very observant, obviously he has read to page 6 of the budget but I shall look at that and come back to the Constable.