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Over the last 10 years in particular I have researched the challenges faced by so many in finding a home they can afford. We continue, unwisely in my view, to use the term 'affordable homes' despite the fact that Jersey's Housing Minister Deputy David Warr's has admitted publicly, the government does not have a definition of what an affordable home actually is!
Everyone naturally has a shared desire and need for a 'home'. Some would argue it is indeed a right! Yet, the reality is that for some, homelessness is a constant and for many, affordability is a barrier amid a cost of living crisis.
The concept of a 'home' can be unpacked to being various overlapping , but distinguishable goods: shelter, security and privacy; a store of wealth ( and in Jersey, a source of wealth accumulation); a base that enables work; a setting for family life; proximity to family and friends; and even 'roots' (a long term connection to place, family, neighbourhood and community, creating a sense of belonging).
All governments are remembered more for what they failed to achieve than what they achieved whilst in office. Already it seems to me, our current government's success in tackling what I believe to be its biggest challenge, the housing crisis, has exposed how out of touch they are with the basic needs of islanders.
wonder, when it's time once again to seek out votes at the next general election, how many fewer of us will even bother to vote at all? If the government fails to tackle the housing crisis as it seems on course to be doing based on the evidence thus far, the ramifications will linger long and hard.
And the only success Kristina Moore and her government will be able to claim, is its success in the ever widening gap between those who are comfortable at home and those who are not!
