Residential status (FOI)

Request

A
Why does Jersey still endorse unqualified people to live 10 or 11 years in Jersey before they qualify for affordable housing?

B
How many unqualified moved to Jersey last year?

C
How many entitled residents left Jersey last year?

Response 

A

The purpose of the Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law is to provide for the availability of work and housing in Jersey for people with strong connections and associations with Jersey, and more generally, in such a way that is in the best interests of the community.

The definitions of residential and employment status seek to further this objective, including requiring a substantial period of residence in order to gain entitled status, which was set at ten years under the old Housing Law, and was maintained under the new Control of Housing and Work Law.

The broad similarity of the current qualifying criteria for housing under the new and old laws assisted in ensuring a smooth transition from the old law to the new one, in that most people who achieved a residential status under the old law, achieve a residential status under the new law. This reduced the need for complex transitional arrangements and ensures certainty and continuity for people who have achieved a qualification, and for whom a radical re-design of the provisions for gaining housing and work could have a material and destabilising effect.
The Regulations are flexible in that they can be changed over time as the circumstances of the Island change. At the present time, however, demand for housing does remain high, as evidenced by the recent housing needs survey.

View the Housing Needs Survey

B

Statistics are published on decisions under the Control of Housing and Work Law, including the number of registrations.

View the statistics

C

Statistics are not maintained on the number of entitled people who leave the Island in any one year. The Statistics Unit publish net migration statistics.

View the statistics

Exemption applied

The information which forms the response to parts of your request is already in the public domain and is available to the applicant without charge on the links provided above. As such it is exempt under Article 23 - Information accessible by other means.