Sunday 9 June 2019

My speech at the Citizens Advice AGM



Last week I was very kindly invited to be the guest speaker at the Jersey Citizens Advice AGM. I was pleased to take questions afterwards and hear about the important work the organisation is doing to support Islanders in need.

He is the transcript of my speech.


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Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to speak to you at this AGM tonight.

I was really pleased to be invited and thought I might start by revealing a little-known fact that it is actually the Citizens Advice Bureau’s fault that I am in politics in the first place.

I will leave it to others to judge whether CAB should be thanked or condemned for that.

Originally, my intention had always been to become a lawyer. I got a law degree at university, started studying my Legal Practice Course and was working for a local law firm here.

When I was studying in London, I volunteered at a Citizens Advice Bureau in Hammersmith, basically to get some experience. I went through some of their training, and got to learn the values of the CAB, about being independent, non-judgemental and on challenging discrimination.

We had all sorts of people come through our doors, sometimes people who were absolutely desperate for help, sometimes people who just wanted to get a second opinion on something to be on the safe side. Sometimes we could help people to help themselves by empowering them with knowledge of their rights, helping them fill out paperwork they didn’t understand etc, and sometimes we couldn’t help them, but could get them to another agency which could.

The truth is that I discovered that I found this work much more rewarding than I did working in a law firm, where often my work was about helping rich and powerful people in commercial disputes. Whereas at CAB we got to make a more direct impact on people’s lives and learnt about the structures and processes of government which often make life more difficult for ordinary people, but with a push in the right direction could be changed for the better. That experience is a key part of what convinced me to go into politics instead.

Tomorrow will mark one year since the new government took office and I became Minister for Housing, and then Minister for Children as well a couple of months later.

I think you will probably find few people in Jersey who don’t accept that housing is one of the top political issues of our time and this government is facing a huge challenge to try and fix things.

I come at it from the perspective of believing that having a roof above your head and the security of a home which you can be comfortable and safe in, is a fundamental human right.

Something has happened over recent decades where many people have found their housing situation become more precarious and more unaffordable. Home-ownership feels more out of reach for young people than it was for their parents, and the cost of renting is putting too many people in rental stress.

I have said that I believe the housing market is broken and works too much in the interests of investors, rather than people who need a decent home.

For too many people, their access to housing holds them back in life, rather than providing them a stable position to move their lives forward which is what it ought to do.

I had found that in the last year of my term as a St Helier Deputy, the number of constituency cases that were coming my way about Social Security issues was declining, but housing issues were increasing. In my discussions with Citizens Advice they have also reported a rise in housing issues.

Reflecting all of this, the government has made ‘reducing income inequality and improving the standard of living’ one of the headlines of our Strategic Plan, with a particular work stream focusing on improving housing in the Island.

The Government has set up a Housing Policy Development Board, which brings together different States departments that hold the relevant levers to affect change, as well as independent experts to get to work on tackling what we see as some of the key issues we need to get to grips with.

To name just a few of them –

  • External buy-to-let – making sure that local people are not at a disadvantage when purchasing homes to live in
  • Scraping the 90% market-rate rule in social housing – finding a more sustainable funding arrangement for homes for lower income households that doesn’t put people in rental stress
  • Measures to improve rental security and mid-tenancy rent rises – so tenants can actually live knowing that if they haven’t done anything wrong, they don’t have to worry about losing their home
  • Introducing transparency in letting agent fees – as has been done in the UK, so prospective tenants are not hit with unfair charges which can’t be justified
  • Keyworker accommodation – making sure we are welcoming to people coming in to work in our essential public services where we have struggled with recruitment in the past because of housing problems

Overarching all of this, the board will be looking towards the next Island Plan and future years to work out how we can meet the needs of our population.

Outside of the Policy Development Board, I have begun work on some of my personal priorities.

  • Improving how the Social Housing Gateway works – so people are helped into the most appropriate homes for them and improve transparency in how that system works
  • Introducing a housing advice service – discussions with Citizens Advice will be fundamental to making sure we make that work

But, when it comes to my housing portfolio, I have no greater priority than addressing the issue of homelessness.

We are one of the richest places in the world, with a community that is intrinsically hardworking and generous, and we have no excuse whatsoever to not deal with this issue.

As Minister, I regularly have people in desperate situations contacting me because they are either homeless or about to become homeless, and I have been so frustrated at the lack of options the government actually legally has to save a person or a family from that situation.

Often this is single men who aren’t eligible for social housing, people who are on the Housing Gateway but nothing is becoming available, and even a single working mum who had had to sleep in her car with her children because she ran out of options.

At the end of last year I held a summit with various government departments and charities, to scope the work to put together a homelessness strategy.

We are working with homelessness charities here, independent experts and, of course, Citizens Advice, to have something in place within a year.

So, these are our ambitions, and there is a lot to be getting on with, but despite what commentators in the media might say, we have not been standing still until this point.

In the last year, the work to improve standards in the rental sector has been substantial.

In the social sector, Andium Homes are on track to deliver 100% Good Homes Standard at twice the speed they initially planned for. They’re currently on 97%.

The introduction of minimum standards in health and safety for residential properties has been hugely important, and the Environmental Health Department have done some sterling work to build an enforcement regime for those standards and use not just a stick but a carrot as well with landlords who need a helping hand or advice to make sure they do the right thing.

A consultation has just opened now on a new landlord licencing scheme, which will bring this industry into the 21st century and give us the tools we need to ensure the market is working fairly and that tenants are protected.

We have seen recently headlines about how the slightest change in housing rules will decimate the market, but I think these proposals strike me as entirely reasonable that we subject the second biggest sector of our economy, an area which has such a huge impact on people’s well-being, to regulations that match its importance. We have regulations in place to stop people selling food which is rotten, the same should apply for housing.

As you might be able to tell, I don’t underestimate the scale of the challenge before us, but I am optimistic that we can and will make progress to make life better for the people that I am privileged to represent. I will certainly be all ears when Citizens Advice wish to speak to me about the experiences your clients have, because that will be invaluable in improving things.

85 comments:

  1. In England, local authorities have duties to homeless people under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002. There are five hurdles which a homeless person must overcome in order to qualify as statutory homeless. If an applicant only meets the first three of these tests Councils still have a duty to provide interim accommodation. However an applicant must satisfy all five for a Council to have to give an applicant "reasonable preference" on the social housing register.Even if a person passes these five tests councils have the ability to use the private rented sector to end their duty to a homeless person.

    Does Jersey have any equivalent law?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Can somebody please explain whats happening with this free School Bus debate?

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  3. Sam.

    Exclusive interview with former Deputy TREVOR PITMAN.

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  4. Back to reality.
    I totally agree with you on St Helier House.
    It is about time a States Member spoke out against the building of matchbox flats at extortionate prices because lets face it, we've seen it happen plenty of times already.
    They are generally cheaply built to make a fast buck, and we know with St Helier House that it's highly likely to happen again if a Private Developer is let loose on that Site.

    So I support you on that one.

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  5. Sam.

    Independent Jersey Care Inquiry 2n Report IMMINENT.

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  6. Sam.

    New and (some) old media Appear at Child abuse Review Panel TRANSCRIPTS.

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  7. Sam.

    Independent Jersey Care Inquiry 2 year review PART ONE.

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  8. Sam.

    Independent Jersey Care Inquiry, Two Year Review, Part two. Chief Minister, and Children's Minister, INTERVIEW.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sam.

    William Bailhache finally, and rightly, vindicates LENNY HARPER.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sam.

    William Bailhache carries out a vendetta for his BROTHER?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sam.

    A twenty sec clip of up-coming interview with former Senior Investigating Officer LENNY HARPER.

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  12. Sam.

    After the retiring Bailiff, William Bailhache, completely vindicated Lenny Harper and his (Operation Rectangle) Team during the former's abuse of position, and political speech.

    I was granted an exclusive interview with Mr. Harper and got his response to the vindication, and much more, HERE.

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  13. Sam.

    Exclusive Interview with former SIO Lenny Harper PART TWO.

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  14. Sam.

    The "good authority" mentioned by Constable John Le Bailly in his "breastfeeding fad" speech has finally, and exclusively, been revealed HERE.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sam.

    A 49 second clip/trailer of up-coming interview with local constitutional expert, and Advocate, PHILIP SINEL.

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  16. Sam.

    Advocate Philip Sinel gives his reaction to the infamous speech of William Bailhache PART ONE.

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  17. Sam.

    Part Two of Exclusive interview with Advocate PHILIP SINEL.

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  18. House prices up 8% from last year.
    Step down and give Housing to somebody who cares.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And what policies would you like to see my successor take up?

      Delete
    2. Are you admitting that you are powerless to reverse this trend?

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    3. No. I’m making the point that it’s easy to criticise behind anonymity.

      Delete
    4. Nobody is going to blame you for the cost of housing because it's been a problem for the best part of 4 decades. And before you took over, vested interest in the States explained the paralysis and reluctance to deal with it. But it's another wake up call about population and dare I say, the 10 year qualification rule which allows people to hang in there and qualify for social housing at the expense of people born here.

      Delete
    5. This is the Housing Minister, of course he is responsible and RJ made pledges which have not been honoured.

      Delete
    6. We honour all of our pledges. Read the JEP today to see how wrong you are.

      Delete
    7. Anon - every politician wants to address these problems.
      Its been the same story for decades but Jersey is a different economic animal and the horse bolted in the 80's. The Island is dictated to by the Finance Industry and we cannot live without it.

      Delete
  19. Whether it is children's issues or housing you never take responsibility but forever pass the buck anyway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You pass everything on - read the VFC Blog.
      No doubts the Housing situation will become the responsibility of all States Members - that's your usual way of dealing with crap on your doorstep.

      Delete
    2. Imagine thinking it’s a bad thing to want all politicians to do their best to safeguard children, instead of leaving it to just one.

      Delete
    3. Nowadays I worry more about real time abuse than historic abuse.
      Online grooming is a serious problem in Jersey + indecent images.

      Delete
  20. Cost of Housing is a problem Jersey has had since the early 80's and it started to become a headline in the early 90's. I blame immigration - Supply and Demand. Plus no CGT on property and other loopholes like Buy to Lets that have been allowed to happen over the years. There is no magic wand here but as property prices boom when the economy is doing well, the reverse trend happens when it is not. The Island is over populated though, no doubts there.

    ReplyDelete
  21. "Senator Sam Mezec says there are a number of landlords who are 'not up to scratch' - and that action is needed to make sure islanders live in respectable conditions."

    Agree 100%. There are a lot of arrogant and intimidating Landlords who treat people with contempt if they complain. To make minimum standards mandatory is the only way to get them.

    ReplyDelete
  22. You do know that some people who come to work in Jersey have a specific goal of getting social housing after 10 years?
    Even going so far as having children to better their case.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you believe that, you’ll believe anything.

      Delete
    2. I have heard it from people directly.
      Seriously it is a goal for some workers who come here and work in low paid jobs.
      They don't want to go home.

      Delete
  23. I agree with you.
    The States Loan scheme would only fuel already inflated prices.
    It does not solve the problem of over priced housing but only another way to stoke it up.

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  24. Glad that was thrown out.
    Some States Members should be ashamed of themselves when they try to keep an over inflated property market propped up. Shame we can't all start living on prefab homes like they do elsewhere. That would drive prices down.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Can you do a post on Housing please Senator Mezec.
    What plans are in the making, where we are with fair rents, estate agent fees and buy to lets?

    ReplyDelete
  26. How come the 90% market rate rent mechanism is still going?
    You said you'd stop that and Malcolm Ferey on CTV saying the RPI rental increases for all tenants is floored because it pushes up rental inflation? On their website at the moment.

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  27. Just watched your CTV interview.
    So let's get this right.
    Andium set rents at 90% market rate but nobody knows the formula for that?
    Then most of their rents are paid/subsidised by Income Support so the money flows from Social Security to Tenant who pay Andium and then presumably that money less ongoing admin gets paid back as a dividend to the SOJ?
    So this money goes around a loop from SS to SOJ and presumably eventually back again to SS?
    But whilst doing all that the rents set by Andium are used by the private sector to then base their rents upon so they are inflationary by going up as they do? These 90% rents are also included in the retail price index and so on.
    Right so if I have that right then this is flawed because the States are effectively assisting rents to go high but in reality they could cut rents and create deflation which in turn could pressurise the private sector to drop or at least freeze rents? But in a nutshell this mechanism is a compete **** up?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well am I right?

      Delete
    2. Yes, that’s a good summary. Only one correction is that Social Security pays rent directly to Andium.

      Delete
    3. Okay then in that case this £30 Million which rolls from one bank account to another gives you space to take rents down and also bring RPI down at the same time. That's a win win.

      Delete
    4. It isn’t the full £20m that rolls back between them though. It’s only a proportion of it, and that could complicate things.

      But the point is well made and we’re currently crunching the numbers to see what can be done.

      Delete
    5. Fair play if you can do something with the economic model. People do say Andiums rents are too high and that may need tweaking or even reducing. But getting RPI down in Jersey is such a priority for the benefit of everybody no matter what political spectrum they come from. So I hope you can change something here, it would be an achievement.

      Delete
  28. "@LordRegIII1

    My (ultra conservative) Party will be proposing new ideas for off-island travel.

    (1) A horse and cart link to France under the sea.

    (2) Giant Stilts for travel to Guernsey (one way)."

    It is no wonder a new political party has been formed and soon to be announced if this is the kind of childish unfunny rubbish members of Reform Jersey is tweeting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What new political party?

      Delete
    2. I heard it was some toffee nose Party called alliance or something.
      Voters are more interested in solutions to ongoing problems by the whole assembly rather than parts of it at each other's throats. Sorry I don't think parties will ever work in such a small island.

      Delete
    3. Unlucky for you, there are dozens of smaller islands than Jersey that have thriving party politics. So the evidence is against you.

      Delete
    4. You always get sarcy.
      All I am saying is that Voters want collective solutions to problems.
      All parties do is divide.

      Delete
    5. Sorry, it’s easy to get sarcastic in the face of comments which make no sense.

      Tens of millions of pounds and 8 years to get precisely nowhere in building a hospital, and some people still think the non-party system is brilliant...

      Delete
    6. Thought it was always a silent majority right wing Party in the States?

      Delete
    7. Any chance of you doing a post setting out your objectives for Housing in 2020?

      Delete
  29. Are there no repercussions for the Private Sector in flooding the Island with Government owned Social Housing?

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    Replies
    1. The Private sector has been taking the pi$$. £1,250 for a 1 bedroom flat is robbery. I agree with young Mezec on this one for once, but he's fighting a private landlord monopoly where they are only in it to make max money with the agencies.

      Delete
  30. What are you all het up about Prince Andrew?
    He has not been found guilty of doing anything nor is he disgraced as one of your supporters claims.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I find it deeply sinister that someone would hide behind anonymity on the internet to defend a man who associated with a convicted paedophile.

      What’s your game?

      Delete
  31. Well done for stopping this.

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  32. Stick to your guns with the plan for better standards for tenants.
    I am shocked by the reaction of some of these Landlords because something doesn't smell right. Why threaten to come out of the market when it's rumoured to be raking in a fortune at the moment?

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  33. Let me preface my remarks by stating without equivocation, we - that is the people of Jersey - let down children who were in public care. It is a stain that will take a very long time to fade. That said, I just don't understand how a 'memorial' will help to assuage the guilt we feel or do anything at all to help those who suffered abuse. It is quite simply a waste of money. Far better to give the £200,000 to an organisation that specialises in looking after children, including those who have suffered abuse. The NSPCC affords just one example: their 'Letting the Future In' programme provides care and comfort as well as practical help to children who have suffered abuse. It's a one-to-one programme so it's expensive to provide. Give them the money and don't waste it on grandiose memorial schemes which will only serve to make politicians even more pleased with themselves.

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  34. "we - that is the people of Jersey - let down children"

    Who is 'We'. 99% of the people of Jersey had nothing to do with children in care. No influence or oversight as to what went on then or now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And this is precisely the attitude that led to these awful things happening in the first place.

      Delete
    2. Ok Einstein, what has this subject got to do with 99% of the population who have never either used historic services or have any influence over them.
      Do tell?

      Delete
    3. Jon, I really thought we were past this phase of you leaving bait on here to then go share with your mates.

      You'd been quiet since your last attempt for a go completely backfired on you.

      Maybe it's best you just gave it a rest.

      Delete
  35. When is the next Jersey Census, is it once every 10 years?
    And in the next Census can we find out how many people above the age of 21 still live at home due to high rents and the costs of housing because I reckon it's almost the norm now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Next census takes place next year.

      Delete
    2. I thought it was every 10 years yet it should be every 5 years the way Jersey is heading. They need to find out exactly how many young people cannot afford to leave home because I am hearing this problem is worse than ever and not everybody wants to go into social housing. Will Ministers be able to add specific questions to the Census to ensure we get a clearer picture of this?

      Delete
  36. Is it true that you do not want people to be anonymous on Twitter and for being anonymous you are calling them (yawn) Trolls.

    Believe it or not there are guidelines to protect people from identity fraud and minors from online grooming like scrambling one's identity.

    Time you engaged your brain before opening your big mouth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And of course, some people use that anonymity to target victims of child abuse and harass them.

      People can still use pseudonyms it they’re so cowardly to have their views and activism associated with their actual names if they want. But Twitter itself should not set up accounts for people unless they privately can prove their identity to them, so that they can hand it over the police to expedite criminal investigations.

      There’s some in Jersey who would get very worried if the police had that power.

      Delete
    2. "some people use that anonymity to target victims of child abuse and harass them."

      That's horse shit Sam and you know it.
      You have a lot of growing up to do and since you took over responsibility a lot of older people to convince that you are any good.
      Anybody can see by your Twitter account that you crumble when challenged and like your response above become abusive.

      Delete
    3. If you don’t believe me, you could just read the report from the Commissioner for Standards which makes it pretty clear that some people do use fake online profiles to attack victims of child abuse.

      Delete
    4. Honestly, it's probably best if you just delete your fake profiles. They don't do you any good because everyone has gotten the better of you.

      Delete
  37. Sam.

    Thank you for the exclusive interview today discussing the proposed memorial for Survivors of Child Abuse.

    I will publish the full interview on my Blog tomorrow but in the meantime your readers might want to see a 60 second trailer HERE.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Christ how many readers do the Voice blogs get these days?
      47 comments in 4 months.

      Delete
    2. Well we know you’re on it every 5 minutes to see if your latest abusive comment has been published. Bit sad really.

      Delete
    3. Only an observation. What are the viewing figures for proper Media again?
      Watched your interview and it is okay, let's not worry about money whilst the World heads for recession and we start raided contingencies all over again.

      Delete
  38. Sam.

    Exclusive interview with Children's Minister, Senator Sam Mezec, discussing memorial for Abuse SURVIVORS.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Sam.

    Link doesn't seem to work. THIS LINK should.

    ReplyDelete