Plans to create more homes have spread into the English Channel

A goal to build around 300 new homes a year in Guernsey has recently been approved by politicians.

As well as having a British nationality, people in Guernsey – an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy – are also struggling with a major housing shortage. The new States Strategic Housing Indicator has set out how many properties are needed on the island.

The system has claimed 1,565 new units of accommodation will be needed between 2023 and 2027, promoting authorities to agree on the plan of creating 300 new homes every year for the next five years – the policy was put forward by the Committee for the Environment and Infrastructure.

Against this backdrop, Deputy Lindsay De Sausmarez, President of the Committee, said there was an ‘urgent’ need for new housing. According to the proposals, 844 new homes would need to be built by the private sector, while 721 units of affordable housing were also needed.

Affordable homes would consist of 473 that were ‘social rental housing tenure’ and 248 in ‘partial ownership housing’, the Committee said.

However, Deputy David Mahoney, Housing Lead for the Policy and Resources Committee, has questioned the research behind the proposals – not believing there had been a sufficient consultation with builders, he urged his colleagues to reject the indicator.

In addition to needing more properties, last month the island’s housing market was struggling with increased costs as it was described as ‘London on steroids’.

In March, Victoria Slade was appointed as the new boss of Guernsey’s biggest housing developer – Guernsey Housing Association (GHA)  – and claimed that the income people needed to be able to buy a house are ‘much bigger than anywhere in the UK.’

At the end of 2022 States of Guernsey figures showed the average price of a local market house was £638,267 and that house prices have rocketed by more than 50% in the past five years.

Image: Samuel Sulaiman