We’re leaving: Homes shortage forces Islanders to go elsewhere

Thursday 1st May 2008, 12:00AM BST.

THERE is an Island shortage of around 2,500 family homes, according to the results of the most comprehensive survey on housing ever conducted.

The Housing Needs survey also reveals that 800 locally qualified families intend to leave Jersey over the next five years because they cannot afford to buy property or meet the costs of living in the Island.

Housing Minister Terry Le Main said that he was ‘tearing his hair out’ as attempts to secure sites to develop new first-time buyer homes are consistently frustrated.

And with few new development sites likely to be given approval until the Island Plan is debated next year, the prospects for potential buyers looks bleak in the years ahead.

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