Candidates asked to support homeless people

Charity director Charlie Cox said Guernsey needed more emergency accommodation

A charity has called for every election candidate to pledge a commitment to end homelessness in Guernsey.

The directors of At Home in Guernsey (AHIG) have written an open letter to the 82 candidates asking them to help ensure every person on the island has an affordable, adequate and secure home.

The charity said more than 1,000 people were "insecurely housed", at risk of losing their home or currently experiencing homelessness in Guernsey.

AHIG director Charlie Cox said the directors wanted candidates to think about people who were roofless and sleeping in cars and bunkers when they discussed the island's housing problems.

'Use your influence'

Ms Cox said although people without homes were placed at the top of the social housing list, they were having to wait months to be allocated a home during which some were having to sofa-surf or live in tents.

Currently there was one States-run homeless shelter in Guernsey, St Julian's House in St Peter Port.

She explained: "We'd like to see a wider range of emergency accommodation so that we can help people no matter what they're going through, whether it's families, individuals or the elderly."

In the open letter the AHIG directors asked the candidates, if elected, to "use your influence and vote" to provide practical and emotional support to people who are homeless.

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They asked candidates to create sufficient emergency housing, eradicate the social housing waiting list and to support the Homelessness Delivery and Implementation Plan.

This is a plan that the charity is in the process of co-producing with the States of Guernsey as agreed in the existing Housing Action Plan.

The Guernsey General Election will take place on 18 June.