Sam Mézec's speech to the Chamber of Commerce

A speech delivered by Housing Minister and Reform Jersey Party Leader, Deputy Sam Mézec, to Chamber of Commerce members on 10th July 2024.

Thank you for the opportunity of speaking to you today and I look forward to taking your questions later.

I must start by saying something that I believe is axiomatic and which I believe a government, if it is to be treated seriously be its population, must be frank and upfront about, and it is this - Jersey has a housing crisis which poses an existential threat to our future prosperity and social cohesion.

Through years of housing affordability becoming worse, increasing rates of poverty and complacent responses from successive governments, we as a whole society are feeling the consequences.

Many of you here, as business leaders, are all too aware of this. The difficulties that many of you face in recruitment and retention can, at least sometimes, be partly put down to the miss match that many workers feel between their expectations on the standard of living they ought to be able to enjoy in Jersey, and the reality of what is possible when housing costs are so high.

The harder it is to find and keep the best staff, because of cost-of-living pressures that are out of your control and put pressure on you to fund unsustainable salary increases, the harder it is for you to grow, innovate and create wealth. This of course, has a serious impact on our economy.

But the crisis does more than that. It knocks the confidence in our people that they can look forward to happy and fulfilling lives here and makes them more likely to feel that their chances are better elsewhere.

In the last two years, hundreds of locally qualified Islanders have left, in search of better lives elsewhere. We are now experiencing a falling population, for the first time in my lifetime. A few weeks ago, I met with a class of A Level students from JCG and Victoria College, and when I asked how many of them were confident they would come back to Jersey after university, not one of them put their hand up.

For many of you here, that may be a perspective that resonates with you, but if it’s not, it may be to someone you care about. Increasing numbers of Islanders are worried about the prospects for their children. I meet more affluent Islanders, who are scared that their children will leave Jersey, and they won’t be able to play an active role in their future grandchildren’s lives.

If we are not able to deliver for working people a housing system here that meets their needs and supports them to work towards their aspirations and be productive and happy citizens, we will lose more of them and risk the Island facing a terminal decline.

So, there is a lot and stake, and we cannot afford to be complacent.

I can tell you now that Jersey has a government that is no longer complacent about this.

Six months ago, when this government was formed, on my very first day in office as Housing Minister, I established a Housing Crisis Emergency Taskforce, bringing together key figures within the public service, with of aim of expediting the delivery of our housing policies.

I established the three pillars of my platform, which I will go through now.

The first of those is that we must - Support More Islanders into Homeownership

For many Islanders, homeownership has felt like it has fallen further out of reach. We have a lower homeownership rate than the UK.

Building new homes is clearly a key part of the solution, and we must work closely with our delivery partners and the private sector to unlock sites and get building, with an informed approach that delivers the kinds of homes we actually need, including houses for those looking to start families.

But it’s not just purely about supply and demand, there are other mechanisms we must use to maximise what we get out of our housing stock.

In March, I was proud to launch the First Step scheme, a scheme I had secured funding for back in 2020 and which I had been a longtime advocate for. This scheme, which I know some of you in the room helped us establish, helps make homeownership possible for those who would otherwise find it impossible. We do this by offering equity loans for those who are just short of being able to afford a mortgage, but with support to bridge the affordability gap, could make it happen. That scheme is already changing lives.

This has been a great example of government and Andium working with lenders, estate agents and lawyers, and I hope serves as a model we can expand on in the future.

Andium’s Homebuy scheme, where they sell properties from their stock at up to 25% discount through shared equity, continues to be extremely popular, with new homes at the Limes selling quickly. With them, we are actively looking at innovating with ways to develop new products to support people into homeownership.

Upon taking office, I immediately got to work with the States of Jersey Development Company, to look at their programme and work out how we can include the homes they build in schemes to make sure they are being focused at the right people.

That is why we were in a position a few weeks ago to accept a proposition in the States Assembly to officially ramp up the proportion of homes designated for first-time-buyers and rightsizers in a new development on the Waterfront. I have also been working closely with them to maximise what we can deliver through the South Hill development.

And we are now starting to see private sector applications coming through, including their 15% contribution to affordable housing.

The second pillar is to - Improve the Experience of Renters

For those for whom homeownership is not an option, we must make renting a decent form of tenure in which people can experience many of the same kinds of benefits of homeownership, in particular, stability.

In social rental housing, Andium has made huge strides in the last decade of their existence. As we deliver a greater supply of social rental homes we can and are already starting to allow more people to become eligible to become their tenants.

My longer-term ambition is that social housing ought to become the second biggest tenure of housing, providing homes to people from all walks of life in inclusive and vibrant communities. Social housing ought to be a tenure of choice, not simply an ambulance service for those facing hardship. With Andium, we are well on our way to achieving this.

But addressing issues in the private rental market is a key priority for me this year.

In short, I want to achieve the Europeanisation of renting in Jersey. In many parts of Europe, renting is common, it’s accepted and it’s a good way of living. These countries have this culture because of their strong offer of social housing, but also their regulatory framework around private renting.

This year, I intend to propose a new Residential Tenancy Law that will set a new framework for how private sector tenancies are governed.

I am proposing moving to long term rental contracts that provide certainty for landlords and tenants, and end the prospects of no-fault evictions. And, yes, I intend to propose a modest form of rent control that is right for Jersey.

This is not some Soviet-style bureaucracy where men with clipboards tell you what you can and can’t charge. But contractual limitations on the excessive practices that are currently perfectly legal, and a fair and balanced Rent Tribunal that can guide and facilitate necessary rent realignments, rather than an ungoverned and unchallengable free-for-all that sees tenants with no negotiating power simply lumped with a choice of being bled dry, or losing their home.

I ask you in this room, for the sake of your employees, please support me in this work. I know that it will be a political challenge to get this over the line. But the voice of those who struggle in the rental market has not been heard loud enough until now. Many of these people will be your employees, and by championing them and their needs in this area, you will be supporting yourselves and our wider economy.

And the last of my pillars is to - Address the Plight of Homelessness

Jersey is a wealthy society and though we don’t see much street homelessness here, charities and government services are currently struggling to support the vulnerable in our community suffering either hidden homelessness or are at risk of homelessness.

By the end of this month, my team will have completed a key data project, having worked with the housing providers and homelessness charities to finally properly evidence the scale of homelessness in Jersey, so we can plan, target and fund our services most effectively to support those in need.

Government ministers, officers and homelessness charities are meeting frequently to identify the improvements that need to be made. I am pleased that within a few weeks of taking office, the Chief Minister and I were able to provide financial support to one key organisation supporting people experiencing homelessness, and I have widened the criteria for social housing, and will widen it further later this year, so that form of housing can be available to more who need it.

Our government Housing Advice Service team are dealing with cases and undertaking outreach to find bespoke solutions for those who need them. This was a real gap until a few years ago but is making a huge difference now. We are now at a point where we are starting to partner with private landlords to establish a programme of supporting ‘sustainable tenancies’ for those who would otherwise be hard to house.

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That is a whistle stop tour of the things that I have been focusing on in the last 6 months and what else we are looking at.

Of course there are other crucial areas that I haven’t touched upon, because they don’t technically fall within my legal responsibilities, but nonetheless are important to highlight.

Improving the Planning Applications process falls to the Minister for the Environment. He has my full support in delivering this. Some of the infrastructure issues that have set back some of the new housing developments outside of town that we desperately need, falls to the Minister for Infrastructure. Again, he has my full support.

There’s a lot to be getting on with.

I appreciate that there is a lot to do and only two years left of this term of office. We won’t achieve miracles overnight, and many of the things we do will be about sowing seeds to be reaped a few more years down the line.

But, above all else, there is one big thing we can achieve in that time, something that is so desperately needed. And that is to restore hope.

Never underestimate the power of hope and confidence.

If people feel despondence, it can end up being a self-fulfilling prophesy.

But if people at least feel that there is a genuine and likely prospect that at some point things will start getting better, they are more likely to stick it out.

In having set this agenda and pursued it with this determination, I hope we will have started to convince Islanders that we are getting back on track.

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As I come to a close, it would be remiss of me not to exploit this opportunity to make a broader point about politics in Jersey.

Jersey faces many challenges, beyond just housing.

We have an ageing population.

It is fair to say that our health service is in serious need of attention.

There will be challenges in the future maintaining Jersey’s international competitiveness, increase productivity and in how we respond to technological advances.

As an Island packed to the brim with hardworking, talented and aspirational people, we ought to be able to rise to those challenges to turn them into opportunities and ensure that Jersey has our best days ahead of us.

But let's be honest - we are let down by a political system that holds Jersey back from achieving our potential.

We waste extortionate amounts of time and money on reviews, deliberations and consultations, because of a reluctance to make decisions. We go round in circles on the same topics over and over again. Just imagine what impact the money we spent on not building a hospital would have had if it had been invested in other parts of our economy instead, if had had a more decisive political system ten years ago.

When this system gives the public so much cause to shout at their televisions or pull their hair out, it can be no wonder that political engagement is so low and turnout in the glorified personality contests we call elections is so poor.

I urge anyone who cares about Jersey and wants to see the best for this Island, and who feels that they have something positive to offer, to get involved in politics and offer what you can. In this room are people with the expertise and the know-how to make a real difference.

That means getting organised and people coming together around their shared values and principles, and selling their visions to the public, so that a group of competent and well equipped politicians can hit the ground running and deliver the best outcomes from government with a democratic mandate from the public who we serve.

No matter what side of politics you are on, that would improve the calibre of the debate we have, and lead whatever governments we have to make quicker and better decisions and deliver better value for money for the public.

If we do that, then we can overcome those challenges we face and ensure that Jersey’s best days lie ahead of it.