Skip to main content

Question

Downsizing and housing costs

Published on: 23 February 2026

Question type: Written

Asked by: David Warr

Reference: WQ.43/2026

Answered by: Minister for Housing

This content has been automatically generated from the original PDF and some formatting may have been lost, therefore it should not be relied upon to extract citations or propose amendments. Please see the PDF for the official version of the document.

WQ.43/2026

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HOUSING BY DEPUTY D.J. WARR OF ST. HELIER SOUTH

QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 16th FEBRUARY 2026 ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 23rd FEBRUARY 2026

Question

"Further to the Minister's answer to Oral Question 23/2026, in relation to 81 households who were under- occupying social housing properties and have since downsized, will he advise how many of these were households for which the housing costs were either fully or partially paid by Income Support?"

Answer

It is not possible to provide accurate figures because the Affordable Housing Gateway does not routinely capture whether a household is in receipt of the housing component of Income Support, either in full or in part, to pay its rent. It is at the point of application when Gateway assess a person's financial circumstances, which may have changed at the point at which the 81 households downsized.

The Gateway's primary focus is on the housing need of the applicant with an overall consideration of their ability to pay their rent, rather than their Income Support eligibility.