Views sought on essential worker housing options

The survey asks if essential workers should have different criteria to access housing assistance

There could be an overhaul of how first time buyer housing schemes are accessed for essential workers.

The Department of Infrastructure is seeking views on the accessibility of accommodation for certain workers.

Roles include those in health and care, education, the emergency services, and the prison and probation services.

The consultation follows an action plan drawn up by the Housing and Communities Board to develop an "essential worker housing policy".

The survey acknowledged "difficulties" that workers may have in securing long-term accommodation, "particularly those who have recently relocated to the island".

Eligibility criteria

The Department of Infrastructure (DOI) currently offers assistance schemes for first time buyers in the form to the First Home Choice and First Home Fixed schemes.

The consultation also asks if eligibility criteria for the scheme should be widened for essential workers, including a reduction in the period of residence.

Under the current rules, workers must have been resident on the island for five years before being able to access the First Home Choice scheme.

The survey also explores the possibility of an increase in the maximum income thresholds, and whether the percentage of the DOI's equity loan, which matches the equity the department holds in the property, should be changed.

The consultation is available online until 12 January.