Chief Minister candidates set out plans to deliver affordable homes target

The two candidates to become the island’s next Chief Minister have set out how they would meet Tynwald’s affordable housing commitment. Kirrie Jenkins and Chris Thomas were questioned at a House of Keys hustings meeting last week, Energy FM reported.

Onchan MHK Rachel Glover asked the pair how the next administration could produce a coherent policy and a workable target for affordable homes.

Tynwald’s current commitment is to build, provide or facilitate up to 1,000 affordable homes over 10 years, according to Energy FM.

Ms Jenkins said the first step was to agree what counts as affordable. “There has not really been a clear vision for people on the Isle of Man as to what is affordable,” she said. She added that what one person can afford may be completely out of reach for most people.

She called for a housing “ladder” that would give people in social housing an incentive to become first-time buyers.

Ms Jenkins also said the government should examine how many properties on the island are empty, used as holiday homes or kept as second homes. She said it should look at why land prices are rising and investigate supply costs, including transport.

“This is not a one-stop solution. We need to look across the whole area,” she said.

Mr Thomas said he wanted a motion laid before Tynwald as soon as possible to give “clarity” about the affordable housing aim.

He described the existing Tynwald policy as “pretty good”. That policy says evidence of housing need should be used to identify suitable funding programmes. But he said it had gaps that needed filling.

“We need to know how much we need to spend,” he said. He added that the government would then need to decide where homes would go, which development sites were available, who would build them and what construction capacity existed.

Mr Thomas said the current commitment left ambiguity. That was why he wanted a housing and planning policy minister to work across government departments.

The role would bring together the island infrastructure scheme, the work of local authorities and the Manx Development Corporation. Mr Thomas said the minister would also settle the definition of affordable housing.

“This is a massive problem that we have got to take seriously,” he said.