Delivering More Homes

Housing is one of the foundation issues facing the Isle of Man.

If people cannot find somewhere suitable and affordable to live, the effects are felt far beyond housing itself. Employers struggle to recruit. Public services struggle to fill vacancies. Young people feel pushed away. Families delay major life decisions. Communities lose continuity. Economic growth becomes harder because the workers needed to support that growth cannot always afford to live here.

That is why we need to change the way we talk about housing.

Too often, housing is seen mainly as a cost. In the public sector, it is often viewed through the lens of borrowing, debt, interest rates and financial risk. Those things matter. Public money has to be managed properly, and nobody should pretend otherwise. But if we only see housing as a liability on a balance sheet, we miss the bigger point.

Good housing is national infrastructure.

We understand that roads, schools, healthcare facilities, energy networks and ports are infrastructure. Housing should be viewed in the same way. Without enough homes, the Island cannot function properly. Without enough genuinely affordable homes, the Island becomes harder to live in for the very people we need to retain and attract.

Housing was already a known issue at the 2021 House of Keys election. It was in manifestos, on doorsteps and in public debate. Since then, there has been no shortage of reports, strategies, reviews and acknowledgement of the problem. What we have not had is enough delivery.

The Island does not need another five years of describing the housing problem. It needs more homes built.

That means clear sites, clear funding, clear responsibility and clear timescales. It means supporting local authorities and housing providers. It means unlocking stalled schemes. It means being honest with communities, but not allowing consultation to become a substitute for action.

But this is not only about building more public housing. The whole housing system needs to work better.

Government already has a range of schemes, grants, planning requirements and assistance programmes intended to support housing delivery. On paper, many of them are aimed at the right things: helping first-time buyers, supporting affordable housing, bringing forward difficult sites and increasing supply.

But the test is not whether a scheme exists. The test is whether it works.

If brownfield sites remain undeveloped because they are commercially difficult, then we need to understand whether existing support is actually unlocking those sites. If grants are available but hard to access, poorly understood or wrapped in bureaucracy, then they will not deliver the result intended. If private developments are required to include affordable homes, but those homes are not being taken up in strong enough numbers, then we need to ask whether the model is working for the people it is supposed to help.

This is where housing becomes a government reform issue as well as a housing issue.

Public schemes quite rightly need safeguards. Public money should be protected, and support should not be open to abuse. But if a scheme is designed mainly around preventing every possible misuse, it can become so slow and complicated that it fails to achieve its purpose.

The starting point should be delivery.

Are homes being built? Are stalled sites being unlocked? Are first-time buyers actually being helped? Are affordable homes being occupied by the people they were intended for? Are developers, banks, estate agents, advocates and buyers able to understand and use the system?

If the answer is no, then government should not simply defend the scheme because it exists. It should reform it.

Housing policy has to be judged by outcomes, not paperwork. The Island needs practical schemes that people can use, with clear rules, clear responsibility and regular reporting on what has actually been delivered.

There will always be difficult decisions involved in housing. New development needs to be planned properly. Infrastructure has to be considered. Public money has to be used carefully. But caution cannot become an excuse for drift. Failing to build enough homes carries its own cost, and that cost is already being felt across the Island.

The Island needs more homes across every sector, particularly genuinely affordable homes. Social housing, first-time buyer homes, family homes, sheltered housing, downsizing options, private rental homes and key worker accommodation all have a part to play. The system needs movement at every level, because at the moment too many people are stuck.

A warm, safe and secure home is one of the basic foundations of a decent life. It is the starting point from which people work, raise families, care for others, participate in their communities and build stable lives.

If we are serious about healthcare, recruitment, economic growth, young people and stronger communities, we have to be serious about delivering the homes the Island needs.