Tuesday 11 January 2011

Jersey Homebuyers scheme – another cock-up?

We take a break from our Faith & Finance series to return to Jersey’s never ending housing problems.


After attending the first two days of the Public Accounts Committee scrutiny hearings looking at the Homebuyer scheme at La Providence, Goose Green – we have taken the opportunity to speak with Deputy Sean Power, the Housing Minister.

He was sitting among the public today so did not participate in the discussions with Senator Shenton and his team, but feel sure that this scrutiny will grind-on for some time – with nobody taking any blame eventually – but we shall have to wait and see.

Future meetings of the Committee are likely to engage with the Crown Officers and the advice they gave, so it is likely that the plebs like us will be excluded from those sessions.

When Senator Shenton led the scrutiny into the euro/sterling arrangements for the Incinerator nobody was ever held liable in public. A behind the scenes censure was discreetly arrived at and the justification of a swanking new and necessary public facility is the official line.

We suspect that much the same will come from this – 46 families happily housed, so what’s the problem? – the usual PR approach of turning a disaster into a celebration.

We shall see – if not hear – what happens in due course.

In the meantime – somebody has to fund 4,000 new homes under the next 10 years Island Plan so the Homebuyer scheme will need to be sorted out soon….

And as for the 10,000 working adult residents who still do not even have housing quals…well hear what Deputy Power says here.

Your comments on these housing related issues are welcome.


Submitted by Thomas Wellard.

1 comment:

TonyTheProf said...

Excellent interview. Fair, balanced, lots of pertinent questions. You are certainly giving CTV with its rapid 2 minute soundbite approach a good run for its money. A good interview needs around 9-10 minutes, much too long for CTV.