Lodging Houses in Jersey

http://www.thisisjersey.com/2008/07/16/community-rallies-to-help-victims/

The JEP commenting on the Broadlands fire, asked some very pertinent questions.

How many residents were living there, in what conditions and in what circumstances? Assuming that their situation was fully legal, do we still want to consider ourselves the kind of community in which families with children can find themselves living at such close quarters with so many others? It will be of relatively little immediate consolation to the families concerned, but the closeness of that brush will surely focus political attention on the Island's lodging house rules and the question of whether they remain satisfactory by modern standards.

Registered lodging houses are supposed to have minimum standards, which are detailed together with a written agreement at


http://www.cab.org.je/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=672&Itemid=66


Registered Lodging Houses-Minimum Standards and Standard Written Agreement.


It is fairly basic, and covers washing and toiletry, cooking and food hygiene, minimum space per person. Not a lot about whether there is mould on the walls, or if the fire standards are up to scratch, or if there are fire hazards in the vicinity.


There is an extremely good article available online at:

http://www.coutanche.com/housing.html


This is called "Housing and Poverty in Jersey", and here are a few selected quotations from it, which make disturbing reading.


The Residentially Unqualified

Where do these non-qualified people live? Apart from a fortunate few who live in "uncontrolled" properties, the vast majority live in lodgings. There are lodgings and lodgings. Financial institutions often have smart (and subsidised) apartments for their staff. Hotels and farms often house their workers - in varying degrees of comfort. The rest are housed in registered lodging houses, or unregistered, privately owned or rented houses.


Conditions are often cramped and sometimes unpleasant. Ironically improved standards e.g. room size per number of people - which have recently been implemented, have made matters worse in some cases. As a baby is counted as a "person", a couple in a double room may have to leave if they have a baby. Obviously one double room is not big enough for a family of three to live in comfortably, but it is far less expensive than having to rent a larger unit. Remember there is no rent rebate available, and rents average 50% higher than the market rate in the private sector for residentially qualified tenants. In any case, children are often unwelcome in lodging houses as sadly, they often are in the private sector also.

In general, many lodging houses are unsuitable for family life.


Even where accommodation complies with these regulations, families brought up in lodging houses suffer various deprivations. Babies sharing one-room units with parents create marital tension. Children of different ages lack the space and quiet necessary for proper bedtime routines. If there is inadequate space, how can children engage in creative play - or do homework properly, or have friends to play? There is no privacy for parents either. Anecdotal evidence suggests that children brought up in such cramped conditions fail to develop properly. At nursery and primary school they tend to cling to the sides of rooms because they are "afraid" of space.


Lack of space/quiet/privacy/scope for different activities for parents and children can lead to terrible tensions and family breakdown. In tolerating these conditions, Jersey is storing up emotional, social and criminal problems for the future. Indeed that "future" has already arrived as education and social workers will testify.


Deprivation in Jersey arises both directly in respect of inadequate accommodation (in relation to prevailing norms in this community) and also in the experience of marginalisation that this can engender. Whilst many of the policies that deal with the underlying housing stock will take considerable time to implement there are immediate opportunities to address some factors that tend to engender a sense of marginalisation. In particular, where opportunities for involvement, for example through the formation of householder groups, can be encouraged this can nurture a significant sense of partnership and shared responsibility.


Let us hope Terry Le Main, the Minister for Housing, tackles these matters before the next election.

Some questions I will ask him when he starts his campaign for re-election: What are you going to do to improve the lot of people in lodging houses? How often does the department check these (or have them checked) for fire safety and health standards when they are approved? Do they check the vicinity for fire hazards? Will they do so now?