New data shows demand on homeless charities

Housing Minister Deputy Sam Mezec says there has been a lack of meaningful data in the past

Reliable data has been gathered on the scale of homelessness in Jersey, the government has said.

Housing Minister Deputy Sam Mezec said the Government of Jersey had worked with partner agencies to understand the issue due to a lack of meaningful data in the past.

In a report looking at the second quarter of 2024, it found there were 180 people classed as being "houseless".

The report found 75% of islanders recorded as homeless were male and 25% were female.

It also found over the same time period there were 220 visits by 204 islanders to homeless accommodation and service providers, 180 islanders were living in temporary shelter accommodation and substance abuse was the main recorded reason for homelessness among males at 14%.

The main reason for 39% of females being homeless was due to be being at risk or having experience of or escaping domestic violence, the report said.

'Deeper understanding'

Mezec said he was grateful to the agencies who had worked with the government to provide the data.

"The reporting of this data will provide a deeper understanding of the level of demand on different providers and how they respond to the issue of homelessness," he said.

"It is, however, always important to remember that behind the statistics, there are many individual stories, and we must always remember the very human nature of this issue."

The organisations that shared data included The Shelter Trust, FREEDA, the Sanctuary Trust, and the government's housing advice service.