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An aspiring first-time buyer has shared concerns her generation will soon be "priced out of ever having the same quality of life that was abundantly accessible to our parents".
Islander Sarah Jones says she was delighted to hear of Andium's plans for a package of affordable housing projects announced last week - that is, until she realised that most were apartments...
"Last week the Government of Jersey announced a package of affordable housing projects worth up to £150m to help rejuvenate the island's economy.
As a local bean in the 25-35 age category, I thought, "Hallelujah, finally my home-owning prayers have been answered after the devastating dismantling of the two- and three-bedroom first-time buyer scheme in St. Peter last year."
That scheme had young families and couples clambering to release themselves from the confines and of renting a flat, of having no outside space or storage to call their own with the guarantee of parking.
Pictured: Young families dream of having their own outside space - but current affordable housing plans don't deliver that.
After the very first announcement of the possibility of the Ville du Manoir project, a community of like-minded islanders in the parish began working hard to save up the money for the deposit, eager to experience their first slice of the Jersey pie.
On hearing more about the new proposals, I was saddened to read that this fantastically huge sum of money would be going towards the building of 550 apartments. Yet again, the smell of a new lawn and the hopes of even a very small patch of land under the £700k bracket disintegrated.
It is without doubt wonderful news that the government are so invested in bolstering the island's highly skilled construction industry from our architects and designers, to the contractors themselves and indeed the local suppliers, but how I wish they would include landscapers and gardeners in their workforce.
If there is space to build smaller houses for the over 55s community, surely there is space to build similar properties for the first-time buyer market?
As a member of the locally born first-time buyer demographic, the feeling among my peers and I - all skilled, qualified individuals working well over the 40-hour a week average - is that of despondence.
We love our island but we are slowly and surely being priced out of ever having the same quality of life that was abundantly accessible to our parents.
With the new Island Plan review looming, I hope the Government of Jersey remember that the foundations of this island are its people - it’s our success, a result of positive physical and mental wellbeing that drives the economy.
If they are not careful with this plan, they might drive us all away."
Sarah Jones,
St.Peter.
