Housing affordability in the Falkland Islands discussed

Written for the August 13 issue of Penguin News under the headline "Tenancies and affordability raised at housing meeting”

The housing committee met on August 11, and agreed to extend by a year the tenancies of ‘local pool’ housing residents whose tenancies have expired, or are due to expire.

The same decision was made in August 2020, for the same reason - a review of housing policy is still in progress.

Resources will be dedicated to investigating the effects of differences in cost between FIG and private sector rent, and other barriers to moving on from FIG housing.

Senior Housing Officer, Fiona Didlick, explained to the committee relevant issues for consideration. Foremost was the affordability of FIG housing and whether those currently using local pool housing were the individuals with the greatest need for it.

It was noted that residents’ need for FIG housing is assessed on a basis of points, with dependent children, whether the applicant is sharing a home or has medical needs, and income being considered – a greater number of points indicating greater need of the FIG housing. This process is repeated for a renewal application.

In previous work on the review of housing policy, affordable rent was defined as up to 35% of gross household income (GHI), Mrs Didlick explained. From assessed individuals making use of the local housing pool, 89% of the tenants assessed were spending less than 35% of their GHI on rent and scored zero points or less; 67% of tenants assessed were spending 20% or less and the lowest scoring were spending 9%.

It was stated that on the opposite end of the scale, 11% of tenants were spending more than 35% of their GHI on rent, past the FIG definition of affordable rent, and that all of these individuals were of pensionable age and “presumably reliant on a state pension.”

The committee discussed the concern that some tenants nearer the affordability barrier definition may be unable to move on to private sector renting due to the significant change in rental cost between FIG and the private sector. Other barriers included availability of both private houses to rent and plots to build land on, and a difficulty for tenants in the 50+ age bracket to secure a mortgage.

The committee stated it is not unreasonable for individuals to aim to continue paying a lower rent and that it should be up to government to apply policy to encourage progression from FIG housing when the need is no longer there for the tenant.

The decision to renew for 12 months, it was said by the committee and MLA Mark Pollard, allows time for the housing strategy to be completed and a permanent solution to be found.